Star Fox: Renegade
by Ray85
Summary: The life of a bounty hunter is a simple one: find and eliminate a target to make money. Cyrus has spent most of his life living such a way, and he's close to parting ways with his current profession. However, a new job challenges everything he believes in. The choices he makes will impact thousands around him, and, perhaps, catch the attention of one famous group of pilots.
1. The Wheel Turns Again

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Fox, nor claim ownership of the series. Star Fox is rightfully the property of its creator_ _Shigeru Miyamoto. I claim my own originality of any other character of vehicle depicted within this story. This story does not reflect the work of any project under the development of Nintendo, nor the ideas of Mr. Miyamoto._

 _Hello Star Fox fans! This is Ray85, author of the Axios Trilogy (Star Fox: Black Sun, Crimson Star, and All Father). After the completion of All Father, a part of me wondered how I'd continue my hobby as a writer. I didn't want to leave the Star Fox franchise due to my fascination of the series, so I decided to add a short new spin off story to the mix._

 _Star Fox: Renegade takes place during the sixteen years between Black Sun and the Crimson Star. It follows the perspective of a new protagonist, a black furred fox named Cyrus Evergreen. Evergreen is a bounty hunter making his way in the Lylat system, but his life is about to change for the better or worse._

 _This story isn't intended to be a completely new series. This is a spin off story that I wanted to write while preserving the same setting I created with the Axios trilogy. If you read carefully, you may catch a few easter eggs and cameos appearing in the story. So keep your eyes open._

 _Much like my original trilogy, I've put my heart into this story. However, I'm far from being a perfect writer. If you notice errors of any kind within my work, please send me a PM or leave a review. I want to improve my writing to give you all a better reading experience._

 _Without further wait, leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

The Wheel Turns Again

~"Sometimes, people are just nobody's. You've got to learn how to live with that Cy. It's not like people don't care 'bout ya, but you ain't gon' make a name for yourself just poachin' bounties." The large brown boar wiped down a dish in his hand with a moist rag. He could faintly see his own reflection within the center of the dish, and the cleanliness on the dish reflected the features on his own face. His beard narrowly touched the dish's surface as he rinsed it again under the sink behind his bar. But his focus remained on the individual drinking behind him. "Ya gotta learn to lighten up a bit, ya know? Ay Cy, you listenin' to me?"

The boar turned as quickly as his fat body permitted him to. He set his eyes on the black furred fox sitting on a stool on the other side of his bar. The fox finished his mix drink and aggressively set his glass down on the bar surface. A small belch escaped his mouth followed by a mild sigh. "I've known you for ten years Paolo." The fox said to the boar. "And you still can't properly mix a shot of Cora Whiskey with Kale Juice."

Paolo wiped his hands on a towel that hung form his apron and set his clean dish inside a cabinet. He walked over to the black furred fox and pulled up a stool to sit across from him. His large body put strain on the stool as he sat, and small cracks could be heard upon him sitting down. "And you wouldn't know a good drink if it came up and kissed ya square in the mouth you lowly cub." He said. "You always comin' up in here with that same ol' look on ya face like ya mama just kicked the can. The least you can do is try smilin' for once in ya life and not lookin' to pop a miserable sob."

The fox slid his empty glass across the bar into Paolo's hands. "Pour me another of that lousy mix drink." He said.

Paolo chuckled and rose form his stool. He took the glass and walked towards his drink dispensers and refreshed the drink with the same mix as before. "So ya do like this mix." He said to the fox. "You know, the least you can do is give an old sow like me a compliment one of these days kid." After filling the half glass to the brim, he set the glass on the bar and slid it towards the fox. "There ya are."

The fox caught it in his hand and took a sip. He tasted slightly more alcohol than before, but his taste buds adored the drink regardless. "Thanks." He said. "Now you got a job for me or not?"

"Always down to business with ya, never takin' a moment to appreciate the finer points of a conversation." Paolo responded as he sat back down across the fox. "Ya know Cyrus, this is why I like ya. You ain't gonna change for the world. That's what makes ya a lot less boring than the other schmucks that comin' in here lookin' for work."

"The job, Paolo. Stay focused."

Paolo reached behind his back towards his back pocket. He pulled out a small data pad and set it on the bar before Cyrus. After pressing a few buttons, a list of dossiers came up on the pad screen and Paolo scrolled through them. "Well, there ain't been much noise lately." He said as he scrolled through the dossiers. "The boss ain't had much trouble since you killed his competitor's financing, literally. Them boys out there with prices on their heads have been turnin' up dead or dying. Others ain't worth your kind of trouble."

"Skip the oversight." Cyrus said. "Find me something that'll make me more than twenty."

"How about this guy?" Paolo turned the data pad over and slid it towards Cyrus. "His name is Freddy Bosner, a higher up smuggler out of that planet Macbeth. Guy specializes in smugglin' weapons, drugs, even people."

"Sounds like a job for the police." Cyrus responded. "Why place a bounty?"

"Well ya see, the client needs to extract some information from 'em. I think the client is part of a rival gang force or somethin', I don't know. He wants him alive for fifty thousand, dead for half that."

"What's the catch?"

"Well Bosner is probably covered by his boys. This info here says that he owns a warehouse district that is being watched by guards carryin' some serious fire power. That district is in a place called Omnar Crater, one of the planet's minin' sites. Gettin' to him ain't gonna be easy, but the client is offerin' a bonus for destroyin' the warehouse district."

Cyrus raised his glass to finish the rest of his drink in one gulp. After setting the glass down, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small PDA from his pocket. He pointed his PDA towards Paolo's data pad and pressed a button. A brief moment went by as the data from the data pad transferred to Cyrus's PDA. "I'll see if I walk away from this with more than fifty." Cyrus said.

"Ya take care of ya self kid." Paolo said as he put his PDA back in his back pocket. "The boss ain't got another clipper like ya in his belt ya know. You're ahead of the curve too. Do five more jobs, and he'll let ya go free."

Cyrus stood from his stool and reached into his jacket again. He dropped a handful of credits onto the bar top and turned to walk out the door. "Thanks for the drinks." He said as he walked away.

Before he would cross the exit to the bar, he turned at the sight of a television in the top corner of one of the bar walls. A green vixen dressed in a black shirt and skirt reported the news, and the Star Fox logo appeared in the corner. Cyrus approached the television and listened in. "And our last point of the day." The news anchor said. "Today marks the eigth anniversary of the end of the Black Suns Conflict. A small ceremony is being held at the Black Suns memorial in Capital Park on Corneria for friends and family of the fallen to remember their service. As a bonus, Fox McCloud and the rest of Star Fox will be there in attendance to speak on the behalf of the veterans of the Black Suns Conflict. More about this, at nine."

Cyrus sighed at the television and lowered his head. "Good for them." He muttered to himself. Cyrus walked out the door and into the small city around him. The moon brightened the night sky above him, and the city lights illuminated his path away from Paolo's bar.

Kor City resided at the base of a mountain range in Titania. Resources do not often come to Kor City, and the sand storms that occasionally pass by wear the buildings down layer by layer. As Cyrus walked through the streets, he took notice to the litter around the area and the few hover cars passing by on the streets. "This place is a shit-hole." He thought to himself. "Only people who live down here are scum. Stranded at the bottom of this mountain range waiting for a sand storm to wipe us of the map."

As he turned the corner, his eyes looked upon a star port several blocks away. "Only reason why I spend my days down here is to make a buck." His thoughts continued. "People don't always have it easy, and they've got to make the best with the cards they've been dealt. But for me, I've got to make the best with the blasters I carry and the money I make. Life isn't always easy for a hunter like me, but at least I can make the most of it."

Several minutes passed by as Cyrus reached the entrance to the star port. He walked through the double doors into a long hall lined with windows on either side. Each window revealed a hangar bay on the other side, most of them empty. At the end of the hall however, he turned to notice a ship occupying a hanger. "Sleep well sweet heart?" Cyrus thought as he looked upon his fighter. "Time to go."

Cyrus approached the window and placed his hand on the glass. A holographic hand print scanner appeared around his hand and scanned his hand print. After a brief moment, the entire window retracted into the ground, and Cyrus walked towards his fighter. He reached into the back of his jacket and pulled out a small remote to activate his fighter. " _Seeker_ , online." A computerized voice said from the remote.

"Let's go." He said to himself.

Cyrus approached the side of his fighter and the cockpit windshield opened before him. He climbed aboard and ignited the fighter's tri-engine system. A pair of wings opened outward from the body of the fighter, and his twin laser weapons system had come online. After a few moments, his fighter lifted into the air, and he hovered above the star port as he pointed his fighter outward towards the sky. "Computer, set a course for Macbeth." Cyrus said. "And be quick about it."

The _Seeker_ sped away from the star port towards the planet's atmosphere. As it breached the atmosphere and entered Titania orbit, the fighter slowly decelerated. "Let's see if the new hyper drive works." Cyrus said to himself. He reached towards his dash console and pressed a trio of buttons to power up his fighter's engines. "Here goes."

Cyrus pulled back on a lever next to his accelerator and his fighter slowly accelerated. Within moments a blue hue surrounded his cockpit and his fighter shot into hyperspace. Within the blue travel tunnel, Cyrus looked about his surroundings and smiled. "Not bad." He thought. "So the new small fighter hyper drives actually work. How about that."

Cyrus took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat to rest. He felt his senses wander as he lost himself at the sight of hyperspace travel. He dozed off at the sight and his thoughts wandered within his mind. After a few minutes however, an alarm sounded off from his dashboard. "Exiting jump in ten seconds." The computer said.

Cyrus reached out towards his flight controls and gripped them tight. Within a few moments, his fighter exited the hyperspace jump and Macbeth came into view. "There she is." He thought. "Computer, give me a flight path to Omnar Crater."

"Confirmed." The computer responded. "Please follow highlighted flight path."

The _Seeker_ 's HUD generated a blue dotted line on the windshield. The dotted line directed Cyrus towards his destination, and Cyrus gradually veered his fighter into the path. After a few minutes, the _Seeker_ breached the planet's atmosphere and Cyrus flew through the night sky over Macbeth. He looked down at the landscape and noticed various cities and factories below. "I wonder if they've ever shut down." He thought as he looked down at the factories. "They keep mining all of the raw materials non-stop. Those guys need to take a break."

"Destination reached in three minutes." The computer said.

Cyrus brought his attention forward and noticed a countdown timer appear on his HUD. "Show time." He thought. He looked down to his side and opened a small compartment. He reached in and pulled out a mask with one half white and the other half black. The eye coverings were of the opposite color of the halves, and a tiny camera on the front provided an image to the user behind the mask. Cyrus put his mask on and pulled a hood over the back of his head. The mask's HUD activated and Cyrus could see his surroundings.

As he neared Omnar Crater, he looked about the roving landscape that surrounded the crater. Large hills gradually climbed up to the crater only to eventually drop down inside. Cyrus brought the _Seeker_ to a landing roughly a hundred yards from the end of the crater. As the cockpit windshield opened, he reached behind his seat and grabbed a black duffle bag. He climbed out of the fighter and set his bag down to open it and grab his gear.

Cyrus pulled out a pair of rocket boosters and attached them to plates on his legs. He assembled a sniper rifle with a suppressor attachment and wrapped the strap around his shoulder to holster it on his back. He pulled out a pair of blasters and holstered them both to his sides, and he pulled out an eighteen inch serrated blade and placed it laterally on his lower back. Additionally, he grabbed a grenade belt and placed it across his torso. As he finished gearing up, he tossed his bag back into his fighter and pressed several buttons on his PDA. The _Seeker_ closed the cockpit windshield and slowly took off to fly back into the air. "Time to get to work."


	2. The Faceless Hunter

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

The Faceless Hunter

~He moved quickly through the open ground towards the edge of the crater, and lied down to survey the warehouse district. Four large warehouses rested within the center of the crater, and various roads and storage units outlined the outer edges. Multiple large loading trucks roamed the area carrying crates and other items. Using built in binoculars in his mask, he looked down and noticed the various guards patrolling the facility. He counted a few dozen within plain view, and assumed even more to be within the buildings. "This will be easy." He thought to himself.

Eager to being his mission, Cyrus slid down the edge of the crater towards the base. He sprinted towards a nearby truck that lied still next to a set of crates. "Where are you…?" He thought as he peeked around the crates. Cyrus activated a facial scanner within his mask and noticed that his target was not out in the open. "Hmph. You're probably inside."

Cyrus waited for a pair of guards to look away from his direction, and he sprinted towards another set of crates near him. He used the cover of the shadows and the absent sight of the guards to carefully maneuver his way towards the edge of the nearest warehouse. As he pressed his back against the warehouse walls, he reached into his back and pulled out a grappling hook attachment for his blaster. After equipping the attachment, he aimed his blaster up high towards the warehouse roof.

After pulling the trigger, and using a hook line to lift himself four stories towards the roof; Cyrus quickly crouched and readied his sniper rifle. He looked about him and noticed a pair of guards on the roof with him, but both looking the other direction. One stood nearby, but the other stood on the opposite end of the roof. He dispatched the far guard with a sniper round, and quickly approached the other with his short blade. He took down his target with an aggressive stab in the back while covering his mouth to hide the scream. "One… two… three… four…" He softly counted.

As Cyrus quickly paced towards the center of the warehouse roof, he looked through an exterior window down into the warehouse interior below. "Two… two… three… four…" His count continued. He gently opened the exterior window and poked his head inside to view his surroundings. He held tightly onto the window rail as he dropped through the window and swung himself onto a catwalk in the upper section of the warehouse. "Three… two… three… four…" He continued.

Cyrus noticed new contacts appeared on his mask radar and he quickly pointed his rifle in the general direction. "Four." His count concluded. He watched as the main doors to the warehouse opened below him. A large truck slowly pulled inside accompanied by half a dozen guards. A pair of black hover cars followed the truck inside, and the two of them pulled to the side away from the truck. Cyrus quickly scanned the faces of the men below him, and determined that his target was not amongst them. "One… two… three… four…" He softly counted.

After a few moments, he noticed the drivers of the truck and hover cars dismount their vehicles. One of the hover car drivers opened the rear door of his car, and out came a large anthropomorphic tiger dressed in black bandit gear and donned a hood over his head. Cyrus pointed his rifle down at the tiger and quickly scanned its face. "Two… two… three… four…" He softly counted as his mask scanned the tiger.

As the scan ended, a green light highlighted the tiger's face. "Confirmed, Freddy Bosner." A computerized voice said.

Cyrus had confirmed his target, and took a deep breath. In the meantime, he quietly moved towards the end of his catwalk to position himself more clearly to see events transpire. As he pointed his rifle, Bosner approached the truck crew and a pair of guards brought a crate before Bosner. "Open it." Bosner said in a deep tone.

One of the guards held his hand over the crate and a small keypad lock appeared. After pressing a trio of keys, the crate popped open and the guard opened the lid. Bosner approached the crate and reached inside to pull out a rocket launcher. "Perfect." He said as he admired the weapon. "Give me the numbers. Crates and shipments."

"We've got another dozen shipments ready to leave tonight, each carrying several dozen crates with a few launchers inside." The guard responded. "There's also rockets lined up in each crate."

Bosner placed the rocket launcher back into the crate and closed the lid shut. "Perfect." He said. "Load up the rest and get the trucks to the frigate. I want our first transport out of here in three hours."

One of the guards looked about the truck crew and held his arm up. He made a circle motion with his hand and the truck crew loaded up the crate and quickly left the warehouse. As they left, Cyrus eyed the truck crew and watched as the last of the crew left the warehouse. However, his thoughts turned towards the munitions truck. He felt a small sensation of nervousness as he chose to do nothing about the munitions, and doubt slowly sit into his mind. "Who's their buyer…?" He thought.

Cyrus continued to monitor Bosner and watched him converse with a nearby guard. "Make sure those weapons are delivered on time without incident." He said to the guard. "Our client will be hitting the research facility tomorrow at dusk."

"Are we going to be involved in the raid?" The guard asked.

"We have no business in killing some doctors and scientists. Our job is just to supply the guns."

Hearing Bosner's words put Cyrus on edge, and he quickly fled from his position. He ran towards the exterior window of the warehouse and leaped towards the edge to climb out. "This is an incredibly stupid idea." He thought as he sprinted towards the edge of the warehouse roof. "Stupid… stupid… stupid idea."

Cyrus quickly perched himself on the corner of the warehouse roof and aimed his rifle at the roof of the adjacent warehouse. A singular guard patrolled the roof and Cyrus quickly fired a sniper round into the guard's cranium. As he fell, Cyrus aimed his rifle at the third rooftop and noticed two more guards on the roof. He quickly dispatched them both with another pair of sniper rounds and brought his attention to the truck from earlier.

The large truck drove off towards the edge of the complex towards a loading frigate. Seeing that the truck was out of his reach, Cyrus wrapped his rifle back around his chest and ran towards the center of his rooftop. He locked his gaze at the adjacent rooftop and sprinted towards the edge. Before he would leap, he quickly activated his rocket boosters on his legs and launched himself across the road below onto the rooftop of the adjacent warehouse. A quick roll followed his landing and Cyrus sprinted towards the other end of the roof. To his relief, the truck had made a turn around his warehouse and remained nearby. He timed his moment carefully as the truck drove below him, and took his moment to jump down onto the top of the truck.

Cyrus lied down on top of the truck and pressed his body low to the surface. The truck slowly drove away from the warehouse district towards the loading frigate, and Cyrus studied his surroundings. As the truck neared the frigate, Cyrus slowly rose to his knee and noticed half a dozen guards loading crates into the back end of the frigate. "Need to stop this ship from leaving." He thought to himself. "Grenade belt in one of the rocket crates would do the trick, but it'd need to be remote detonated."

As the truck arrived at the back of the frigate, Cyrus carefully timed a boost jump from the top of the truck to the top of the frigate. He quickly looked behind him and noticed the guards continued their work without interruption. "Thought I'd be caught from that." He thought. "Once that truck leaves, I'll clear out the crew and plant my grenades."

Cyrus perched himself on the edge of the frigate, and aimed his rifle down below at the guards loading the weapons. After waiting a few minutes for the last of the crates to be loaded, the truck slowly drove away leaving only a trio of guards by the frigate. Wasting no time, Cyrus quickly fired three sniper rounds to dispatch the guards below. He jumped down towards the ground and used his rocket boosters to break his fall. He ran inside the frigate and fired a sniper round to open one of the crates. He looked inside and noticed nothing but rocket munitions inside the crate, and he dropped his grenade belt inside.

Cyrus took that moment to sync the grenade detonation timers with his mask, and changed their settings to be remote detonated. After he readied his explosives, he quickly left the frigate and ran back towards the warehouse district. A large feeling of relief overtook him as he knew he could halt the shipment of weapons. Yet, the thought of an innocent research facility being destroyed by those weapons haunted his thoughts.

It took him a few minutes to eventually hide behind a set of crates near the edge of the warehouse district, and his thoughts quickly returned to his task at hand. The radar built into his mask preserved Bosner's tag, and Cyrus could tell that Bosner was still within the district. However, he could not visually see Bosner from his current position. "Where are you…?" He thought.

To his shock, he felt a barrel of a plaster pressed upon the back of his head. A guard had found Cyrus kneeling behind the crates and readied his blaster. "You're not supposed to be here." He said to Cyrus.

Cyrus quickly snapped his head to the side and drew his blade. The guard did not anticipate Cyrus's sudden movement as Cyrus grabbed the guard's wrist. He quickly stabbed his blade into the guard's throat and kicked his leg out from underneath. As the guard's corpse fell to the ground, Cyrus took several deep breaths. However, a voice could be heard over the guard's communicator. "Jack?" The voice called out. "Jack, you there? You check out that anomaly yet?"

Cyrus felt panic for a brief moment and sprinted towards another set of crates. Using the same tactics as before he made his way towards the edge of one of the warehouses. However, an alarm sounded off within the district and the remaining guards went on high alert. "Shit…" Cyrus thought. "Where are you?!"

Though he could still tell Bosner was within the district, Cyrus did not have a visual on him. He noticed a trio of guards quickly moving from one area to the other and he rushed towards the edge of the nearby warehouse. He used his grapple attachment once more and lifted himself onto the roof. From there, he surveyed the district.

After hastily scanning the area, Cyrus located Bosner again. Bosner quickly moved towards the entrance of a warehouse accompanied by a group of guards. "I want every inch of this compound searched until this intruder has been found." He said to the guards. "And once you find him, I want you to bring him to me."

Cyrus quickly perched himself on the edge of the warehouse roof and aimed his sniper rifle at Bosner's guards. "Now or never." He thought.

Seizing that moment, Cyrus opened fire upon Bosner's guards catching two of them off guard. Bosner and the remaining guards quickly turned around and noticed Cyrus firing from the rooftop. "There he is!" Bosner called out. "He's on the roof!"

Cyrus gunned down one more guard and Bosner quickly took cover behind a set of crates within the warehouse. As he took cover, Cyrus noticed several more guards firing upon him from below. He aimed his rifle in the other direction and dispatched a few more guards before the blaster fire forced him to retreat. As Bosner saw Cyrus retreat, he placed his finger in his ear piece communicator. "Tell the frigate to take off!" He yelled. "Now!"

The frigate at the end of the compound closed its rear cargo bay doors and powered up its main engines. From the distance, Cyrus watched as the frigate slowly ascended into the air. "Computer, detonate." He said into his mask.

After a brief moment, Cyrus watched as a large explosion decimated the back of the frigate. The explosion also destroyed one of the rear engines, and the frigate had lost control. "Hell yes!" Cyrus cheered. "Time to- Oh no…"

Cyrus watched as the enflamed frigate quickly descended towards the warehouse district. The lack of stabilizers set the frigate on a crash course with the warehouse buildings. "OH SHIT!" Cyrus cried out. Cyrus sprinted towards the other end of his rooftop and ran as the frigate came crashing down in the center of the district. Using his rocket boosters, Cyrus launched himself from the rooftop and used them again to break his fall. As he took cover behind a truck on the edge of the district, he watched as the frigate crashed within the three warehouse buildings. A massive explosion went off as the many munitions onboard detonated, and chaos and flames engulfed the entire facility.

Seeing the fireworks transpire, Cyrus stood casually and held his sniper rifle in his arms. To his surprise, he noticed a green contact appear on his radar mask. He used his built in binoculars and noticed Bosner limping away from the flames of the explosion.

Bosner limped towards a truck at the edge of the district. A metal shard protruded from his leg and blood slowly seeped from the wound. As he reached the truck doors, a sniper round went through the center of his hand. Bosner fell backwards from the pain and screamed as a gaping hole resided in his hand. He looked to his side and noticed Curys casually approaching. Bosner reached for his blaster with his other hand but Cyrus fired a sniper round at the ground next to Bosner's head. As Cyrus stood next to Bosner, a cold feeling of fear overtook Bosner. The emotionless stare from Cyrus's mask amplified the feelings of fear from Bosner, and he slowly held his hands up. "Wh- What do you want?" He asked. Cyrus.

Cyrus activated a voice modifier in his mask. "You…" He said in a deep, distorted tone. "You're coming with me."


	3. Unexpected Bonus

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Pondering

~The day following the completion of his mission, Cyrus brought Bosner to a remote building in the slums of Macbeth's New Onyx city. There he left a beaten Bosner chained against a wall, and he flew away in his fighter. Time passed as he eventually made his way back to Titania's Kor City, and he found himself enjoying another of Paolo's mix drinks. Paolo watched a monitor as a news anchor reported the fire and explosions of the warehouse district, and he chuckled. "Damn kid." He said to Cyrus. "Ya got some real interestin' style of decoratin'."

Cyrus casually ignored Paolo's comment and continued to sip away from his drink. "Man you was comin' up in there and ya decided to torch the whole pace." Paolo said as he turned towards Cyrus. "There ain't no subtlety witcha. Ya got no style for a bounty hunter."

"Did the funds finish transferring yet?" Cyrus asked as he placed his drink on the ground.

Paolo reached behind him and grabbed his PDA. He looked through a list of account numbers and noticed one account's balance increased by a hundred thousand credits. "Oh yea it did." He said to Cyrus. "Ya got a nice bonus too. A hundred grand been transferred into ya secondary."

Cyrus finished his drink and placed the glass back on top of the bar. "A hundred thousand?" He asked. "That's twice the amount I would have gotten if I hadn't blown up the facility."

"I know, quite the raise eh?"

"What's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"Paolo, when you've been in the business as long as I have, there's always a catch. Another player."

"Ay kid, I ain't got the slightest idea. Clearly some one thought that you was deservin' of more than what you was set up for."

Cyrus quickly stood from his stool and walked towards the entrance of the bar. "Hey!" Paolo called out. "Where ya goin'?"

"To run an errand." Cyrus responded. "Put the drink on my tab!"

"Ya don't have a tab ya half brained dip shit!"

Cyrus closed the door behind him and quickly paced towards the star port. "Fifty thousand for standard completion." He thought as he moved. "At most a twenty thousand bonus for destroying the district. So where is the extra thirty coming from?"

As Cyrus reached the entrance of the star port, a call came onto his communicator. He placed a finger on his ear and activated his communicator. "Who is this?" He aggressively asked as he moved towards his fighter.

"I saw your work the past night." A distorted voice said. "Very impressive."

"Answer my question."

"I see you're not a man of patience. For a bounty hunter who's supposed to be good at understanding the situation, you're not so great it seems."

Cyrus opened the hangar bay window and quickly approached his fighter. "If you're not going to answer my question then this conversation is over." He said.

"If you take off now, I'll have no choice but to kill you where you stand." The voice hastily said.

Cyrus froze before climbing aboard his fighter. He looked around his surroundings and noticed no suspicious characters nearby. "You're in Kor?" He asked.

"Indeed." The voice responded. "The extra thirty thousand credits I transferred to you serves two purposes."

"Which are?"

"One was to reward you. That shipment of weapons you destroyed was meant to supply a terrorist group that targeted the Sandel Research Facility in down town New Onyx. Since the group didn't get their weapons, their plans were severely hindered."

"How would you know that?"

"Because I am the one who killed off the rest of the terrorist group."

Cyrus stood in silence and took a deep breath. He continued to remain alert as he slowly stepped away from his fighter. "How do I know you're not lying?" He asked.

"At any given moment of you walking up to your fighter." The voice said. "I could have ended your life. Even as you finished your drink and left the bar, I could have had you right then and there."

Cyrus stood within the center of the hangar bay and looked around his surroundings. "You mentioned two purposes." He said. "The second?"

"To offer you an incentive." The voice responded. "I have a job for you, one that I can entrust only to a bounty hunter of your skills. The extra funds I sent precedes much more upon the completion of the job."

"And if I say no?"

"Then our business ends here. You have two options Mr. Evergreen. You can walk away and keep the money as a reward for doing a good deed, or you can come to me and treat the money as a sign on bonus for something that'll get you a lot more. Make your decision."

Cyrus pondered his options for a moment and looked about his surroundings once more. After seeing no suspicious characters, and calming his nerves, he came to his decision. "Where am I going?" He asked.

"Most wise…" The voice responded. "You will travel Fichina. There is a colony named Green Star located near a climate control tower. Within this colony lies a small town filled with whatever form of entertainment you'd seek. Once you have found a place to converse, I will join you."

"That makes no sense. Where exactly are we meeting, don't screw with me."

"You're a bounty hunter, one who favors stealth from the looks of it. I'm sure you'll find a place that's secluded, and out of sight."

"How do I know you're not going to stand me up?"

"Underneath your fighter is an explosive. It's set to go off the moment you power up your fighter's engines thus killing you in the process."

Cyrus quickly approached his fighter and looked underneath it and he noticed a small bomb planted underneath it. Upon recognizing the design of the explosive, Cyrus pressed a trio of buttons on the bomb's keypad and disarmed it. "You planted a bomb on my fighter?" He angrily asked. "And you expect me to meet with you?"

"Consider it a sign of trust." The voice responded. "You asked me if I was going to abandon our meeting. That answer is no. Your options remain the same as before Mr. Evergreen. I trust you'll live with whatever decision you choose.

Cyrus noticed the communication line got cut off from the other end, and he removed his finger from his ear piece. He looked down at the explosives in his hand and thought about his options once more. As he took a deep breath to contemplate his thoughts, he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "One… two… three… four…" He softly counted.

He climbed aboard his fighter and ignited its engines. "Two… two… three… four…" He softly continued as his fighter did not suddenly explode. He lifted his fighter out of the star port and pointed it towards the atmosphere above him. As he flew into the sky and into Titania orbit, he set his coordinates towards Fichina. "Three… two… three… four…" He softly continued.

Within a few moments, he activated his hyper drive and his fighter shout out into space. Once again, he felt himself doze off upon looking out his cockpit into the blue hue of hyperspace travel. He leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes to calm his nerves. "Four." He softly said as he exhaled.

As Cyrus relaxed himself, his thoughts wandered and he reminisced about his past jobs. He looked back at his time as a bounty hunter, and visions of himself in action appeared in his mind. He performed various assassination missions, escort missions, heist operations, and jobs that left total destruction. But above all of his memories, his thoughts clung onto a vision that haunted him.

Cyrus saw himself running for his life. A night time storm clouded the sky above, and rain pounded the ground below. He saw himself dressed in all-black set of tactical gear with a hood and a shoulder cape over his right arm, but he also saw himself bloodied and running with blaster in one hand and mending a cracked rib with the other. He ran through the streets of a Cornerian sub city, and his pursuers chased after him in force. He turned the corner and stopped for a moment to catch his breath, and his communicator sounded off in his ear. "Cyrus!" The caller hastily said. "Cyrus where are you?!"

Cyrus felt pain in his ribs as he placed his finger on his ear piece. "I'm… trying to catch my breath." He said as he panted. "Keen Street and 154th, but the cops are on me and I can't stay here."

"Ok, I've jacked a car and I'm on my way. Cut across the block and get to 156th pronto!"

Cyrus looked back around the corner and noticed the Cornerian police quickly coming about. He took a step forward and proceeded to run in the opposite direction. He quickly ran into an alley way to escape their sight, but a midsized Cornerian police VTOL hovered overhead and quickly illuminated a spotlight upon him. "Stop right there!" The pilot called out over a loud speaker.

Cyrus continued to run towards 156th, and the VTOL above warmed up a pair of laser canons mounted on the side. It opened fire upon Cyrus and the ground around him shook with the impact of each laser round. "God damn it!" Cyrus cried as he ran in between two lines of laser fire. "Carter! Where the hell are you?!"

In response to Cyrus's cry, a hover car quickly pulled up to the street before him. A white furred fox donning a white version of Cyrus's appearance opened the door from the inside. "Let's go!" Carter called out.

Cyrus sprinted towards the car and dove inside. The instant he was inside, Carter sped off down the street and the door slammed shut from the sudden burst of momentum. "You ok?" Carter hastily asked as he drove.

"I finished the senator." Cyrus said as he sat back upright in his seat. "We need to-"

"I don't give two shits about the job! Are you all right? That was my question."

"I'm fine! Just drive!"

Within moments, the police VTOL shined its spotlight upon the getaway car, and a force of more police pursued behind. "Stop the vehicle!" The pilot called out over the loudspeaker. "Or we will open fire! Stop the car! Now!"

Cyrus looked behind him up at the VTOL and tightened his grip on his blaster. "Like hell." He said. He smashed the window of the car and poked his head and arm out the window. He aimed at the VTOL and fired his blaster. His rounds caused the VTOL to bank off to the side, but it continued its pursuit regardless. As Cyrus retreated back into the car, he noticed the rest of the Cornerian police force gaining on the car. "Keep it steady Carter!"

"Just get them off our ass." He hastily responded.

Cyrus leaned out the window again and pointed his blaster back at the Cornerian police behind him. He fired off several rounds at the approaching cars, and successfully forced two of them to back off. As he reentered his car, he reloaded his blaster and brought his attention to Carter at his side. He also noticed a spotlight shined down upon them, and he looked up into the light only to become blinded.

After looking into the light, Cyrus quickly woke from his vision and an alarm sounded off within his cockpit. Moments later, his fighter exited its hyperspace jump and he looked upon the frozen planet of Fichina. He approached the planet from the night side, and took a moment to admire the sun creeping around the edge of the planet. "Computer, set a course for Green Star." Cyrus said.

Following his command, he noticed a flight path highlighted for him on his HUD and he followed it down into the planet. After taking some time to breach the atmosphere and locate the colony, Cyrus looked about for the nearest star port. As he neared the ground, he felt a cold chill run up and down his spine. "This better not screw me." He thought to himself. "And the money better be worth it."

After taking the time to land his fighter in a star port on the corner of the colony, he placed his black and white mask back on his face and dismounted his fighter. Though he did not carry his sniper rifle or short blade, he kept his two blasters holstered at his sides. He also donned a long hooded black coat to preserve his warmth while planet side.

As he left the star port, he placed his hood over his head and looked about his surroundings. He stood near a street intersection of the colony and looked to his side. He walked down the sidewalk for a brief period of time and carefully studied his surroundings. As he looked about him, the few people on the streets did little to ease his unrest. After walking down the road for a few moments, he noticed a darkened alley to his side and entered it.

There Cyrus leaned up against one of the alley walls and he waited. "This is a dark spot, and secluded." He thought to himself. "He should be here soon."

His initial thoughts would be correct as Cyrus noticed a new contact appear on his mask's HUD. Cyrus looked to his side and noticed a black robed figure emerge from the darkness at the end of the alley. The figure slowly approached him and Cyrus held his hand over his blaster holster. As he closely examined the black robed figure, he noticed that the figure also wore a mask. To his shock however, he noticed the mask bore the Black Sun's crest. "I know that crest!" He thought. "Is this guy a Black Sun?!"

"You have come." The figure said. "This is wonderful."

Cyrus immediately drew his blaster and pointed it at the figure. "You!" He hastily said. "You're a Black Sun! A terrorist!"

"Was, a Black Sun." The figure responded. "Now, I am all that remains of a once formidable war faction."

"I should kill you where you stand. You and your people are enemies of Lylat."

"If that is truly what you desire, then I see no point in attempting to stop you. You would be following your own sense of justice, and there for your actions wouldn't cause you any regret or doubt. But before you decide to pull the trigger, perhaps you should listen to my proposal. After all, it would be a shame for you to make this journey and not obtain the additional funds I promised to offer."

Cyrus stood for a moment to contemplate his actions. He wanted to kill the Black Sun agent, but the thought of obtaining his bonus filled his body with doubt. "How do I knew you'll hold to your word?" He asked.

"I warned you about the bomb on your fighter, and I came as I promised." The Black Sun agent responded. "I now stand at the end of a loaded gun, awaiting either a quick death or a chance to speak. What happens next, is entirely on you, Mr. Evergreen."

Cyrus continued to point his blaster at the Black Sun agent's head, but he took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. "What's the job?" He asked.


	4. The Job

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

The Job

~The conversation on Fichina only added to Cyrus's worry. The thought about completing his mission became filled with doubt as he flew his fighter into the Sector X region. Upon exiting his hyperspace jump, he looked out and noticed a large convoy of migrant ships in the area. Some of the migrant ships were massive in size compared to the others, and nearly three dozen ships traveled in the convoy.

Cyrus flew his fighter towards the largest of the migrant ships in the area, and set a course to dock with the main flagship. As he neared his target, the words of the Black Sun agent surfaced once more in the back of his mind.

"The task will not be easy. Neither on the body nor on the mind." The Black Sun agent said back then. "Your target is a covert mercenary cell traveling in secret aboard a migrant convoy in the Sector X region. Regrettably, the fleet's main flagship has been taken over as the fleet's commander has been taken as a hostage. These mercenaries look to send the fleet to a rogue ultranationalist group in the Titania system. This cannot be allowed. Your mission is to board the main flagship, the _Generate,_ eliminate the leader of these mercenaries, and restore control of the migrant fleet to its commander."

"For starters, is this some kind of a joke?" Cyrus asked back then. "You're sending me alone against god knows how many mercs. Even if I pull this off, are you trying to make me into some kind of hero? I'm a bounty hunter, one who keeps to the shadows and is in it for the money. I don't like a lot of attention."

"I am prepared to offer you two-hundred thousand credits upon the completion of this task. The conditions is that the fleet must not be destroyed, and the mercenaries must be eliminated before the fleet reaches Titania."

Cyrus took a moment to ponder his decision, and he turned his back towards the Black Sun agent. After thinking about the terms, and his mission, he turned back and holstered his blaster. "I'll do this for two-fifty. No less."

"Done." The agent responded. "When you complete this task, I will send the funds your way." The Black Sun agent slowly stepped backwards into the shadows of the alley, and Cyrus became alert. After a brief moment, he chased after the Black Sun agent and noticed that he had disappeared.

Cyrus brought his thoughts back into his cockpit and the _Generate_ before him. The closer he approached the flagship, the more nervous he felt. "Unidentified fighter." A voice called out to him over his communicator. "You are entering the vicinity of the migrant fleet _Freedom's Progress_. State your business."

"Looking to dock with the _Generate_." Cyrus responded. "My fighter is running a bit low on fuel and I'm running low on supplies. I'm not planning on staying long and I can be out of your way in less than an hour."

After a short pause, the communications line opened again. "All right. Proceed to docking bay eight and be ready inspection."

"Understood." Cyrus silenced the communications line and he flew towards the rear of the _Generate_. "Inspection…" He softly said to himself. "This will make my job a lot harder. If mercs are running this place, then getting my weapons in side will be a lot harder."

As he found the docking bay at the rear end of the _Generate_ , he lowered his fighters speed. "I can try sweet talking my way through with my gear, or try my luck with unarmed combat." He thought to himself. "Wait, they're mercs. No way will they let me in with my weapons. Guess I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way."

He slowly flew through a shield to enter the large hangar, and he noticed a group of people waiting for him below. As he slowly brought his fighter down for docking, a crew with a fuel dispenser approached his fighter. Moments after touchdown, Cyrus powered down his fighter and equipped his mask. "All right!" A large anthropomorphic pig called out. "Come on out!"

Cyrus opened his cockpit windshield and he hopped out of his fighter onto the ground. The welcome crew stepped back as Cyrus's appearance drove a feeling of unease into their systems. His black robes covered his armor underneath, and his mask delivered a cold emotionless gaze. As Cyrus stood tall, he noticed two of the crewmembers held rifles in their hands. "Interesting character we've got here." The pig said. "There a freak under that mask?"

Cyrus didn't respond and simply stared at the crew before him. He looked to his side for a brief moment and noticed another trio of people bringing a fuel dispenser towards his fighter. As he looked back, he noticed the two riflemen bring their weapons to the ready. "Is there a problem?" Cyrus asked the crew.

"Yea, there is." The pig responded. "No masks. We don't like unfamiliar faces around these parts."

Cyrus looked around him and noticed a group of mercs physically harassing a group of civilians in the corner of the hangar. Seeing the innocents being hurt slowly built up range in Cyrus's emotions, and he tightened his fist. "That's too bad." He said. "My face isn't something I like to show. I'm not here to cause trouble, but I'm not going to take off my mask."

The two riflemen pointed their weapons at Cyrus and Cyrus became nervous. However, the pig extended both of his arms to his sides to calm his riflemen. "Seems my boys are a bit jumpy." The pig said. "Fine, you can keep your mask. If you try anything you'll be shot dead anyways. Any weapons you got are to be left on your fighter. The boys here will fill her up so you can kindly fuck off."

"I appreciate that." Cyrus said in an angry tone.

The welcome crew walked off to the side and Cyrus looked about his surroundings. He noticed a trio of hares refueling his fighter, but they all appeared to fear him. Cyrus approached the hares and noticed they all fearfully looked away. "Hey…" Cyrus said in a calming tone. "Listen, I'm not here to hurt you."

"Like hell we can trust you." A female hare responded. "You're just another mercenary. Why can't you just leave us alone?"

Cyrus took a deep breath and slowly undid the straps in the back of his mask. He removed his mask from his face and the hares stared at him. The sight of his calm face eased the hares' worry, and Cyrus took a breath. "Listen, I've got no time to explain." He said. "I'm here on a job to help you and your migrant fleet. I need to know where the leader of these mercs are. Can any of you tell me?"

The hares looked amongst each other and they exchanged looks of worry. "How do we know you're not just trying to get us into trouble?" One of the hares asked.

"You don't." Cyrus bluntly answered. "Truth be told, I really don't care for the rest of you. I'm doing this because there's six months' worth of credits waiting for me at the end. I have a job to do and I intend to see it through. I'm going to find the leader of these mercs, kill him, and then restore command of the fleet to your commander. Now are you going to help me or not?"

The hares took a deep breath, and one of them approached Cyrus. "The main door to the bridge is on the far side of the hangar there." The female hare said as she pointed to a large set of double doors. "We don't know where exactly their leader is, but in reality he's actually a woman. They call her Mistress, and she's a falcon with a long black ponytail. If you're heading to the bridge that might be where you'll find her."

"And your commander?" Cyrus asked.

"He's been held captive in the bridge for weeks now. Please, save him if you can."

"Thank you. Listen, when the action starts going down, you might want to find shelter fast."

The hare nodded her head and proceeded to continue to work on Cyrus's fighter. Cyrus turned away and locked his gaze on the bridge entrance. He walked for a brief minute and noticed a pair of guards at the entrance to the gate. As he approached them, the two guards stepped in between Cyrus and the door. Cyrus stopped within an arm's reach of the two guards, and they both shot a hateful glare at him. "Turn back around buddy." One of the guards said. "Market's on the other side of the hangar."

"I'm looking to get into the bridge." Cyrus said to the two guards. "Please let me pass."

One of the guards immediately pointed his weapon at Cyrus's head. "I'll fill up that dumb ass head of your with a plasma round instead." The guard angrily said. "Now go fu-"

Cyrus grabbed the barrel of the guard's gun and pulled it past his head. He quickly drove his fist into the guard's throat and immediately crushed his wind pipe. The other guard quickly aimed his rifle at Cyrus but Cyrus quickly but Cyrus ripped the rifle out of the first guard's hand and used it as a club to deliver a two handed swing into the other guard's head. As the two guards fell down to the ground, one of them slowly died from choking on his own breath while Cyrus placed his knee into the throat of the other. "Where is your boss?" Cyrus asked in a devilish tone.

"T-The bridge." The guard coughed out. "She's i-in the bridge!"

Cyrus took the butt end of the guard's rifle and smashed it onto the guard's head. The resulting impact delivered a fatal skull fracture to the guard's cranium and Cyrus stood with the rifle in hand. "Thanks." He said as he walked through the hangar exit.

He pulled out the rifle magazine and noticed the magazine fully loaded with blue plasma rounds. As he popped the magazine back into the rifle, he continued to move forward and held the rifle at the ready.

Cyrus quickly exited the hanger and found himself in a long hallway lined with pillars. As he moved through the hall, he noticed a trio of contacts appear on his HUD. He quickly looked to his side and pressed his back against the wall to hide behind a pillar. "The guy in the mask just took out two of our guys." One of the mercs said as the trio ran past Cyrus. "Move to the hangar and bring him down. Mistress wants him alive."

Cyrus emerged from behind his pillar and quickly ran around the corner from where the mercs came. He quickened his pace and noticed a small group of contacts appear on his HUD once more. As he neared another corner, he peaked around it and noticed a trio of mercs guarding a set of double doors at the end of the hall. He took a deep breath and hid his rifle within his robes.

To the mercs' surprise, Cyrus walked around the corner and casually approached the two of them. "You!" One of the mercs called out. "Stop right there!"

Cyrus noticed the mercs about to raise their rifles, and took that moment to surprise the mercs with his own. He unloaded the entirety of the rifle clip upon the mercs and quickly killed the three of them before they could fire a single round. As he neared the door, he dropped his rifle on the ground and grabbed one of the weapons from the dead mercs around him. Realizing that he held a shotgun in his hands, he pumped the fore grip back and forth and readied a shell.

The doors before Cyrus quickly opened and revealed an additional pair of mercs guarding the other side. Cyrus quickly fired a pair of shotgun rounds and killed the two mercs and proceeded inside the room. He looked about his surroundings and noticed he walked into a lobby like room with a pair of doors on the other side. Two rows of pillars lined the room from end to end, and half a dozen mercs stood between Cyrus and the other side. Seeing their comrades fall to the ground lifeless, the rest of the mercs in the room quickly aimed their weapons at Cyrus.

Cyrus dove behind a pillar as dozens of plasma rounds quickly flew directly at him. The edges of the pillar slowly wore away as plasma rounds took out bits and pieces of it. Hearing a break in the fire, Cyrus quickly rushed towards the next pillar before him and fired off a shot gun round towards the mercs. Though he missed, he took cover behind the next pillar and noticed the mercs slowly advancing on his position. Cyrus quickly poked his head out of cover and noticed a pair of mercs approaching him from his side. He quickly turned the pillar and fired off a shot gun round to kill them both at once.

As the remaining mercs in the room continued to fire their rifles, Cyrus sprinted to the next pillar. He slid on his knees and grabbed the rifle of one of the dead mercs near him. As he made it back into cover, he dropped his shotgun and readied his rifle. He quickly aimed at two exposed mercs and fired his rifle, killing the both of them. With two mercs remaining, he retreated back into cover as they continued to fire upon him. Cyrus tracked their movements on his HUD and noticed that one of the mercs moved to flank his side.

Cyrus quickly dropped to one knee and aimed to his side and noticed the merc come from behind a pillar. He fired his rifle and shot the merc directly in the head, but the second merc rushed his other side. The merc delivered a hard thrust kick to Cyrus's head and Cyrus fell over and dropped his rifle. Seeing the merc take aim, Cyrus quickly rolled to his side to avoid being fired upon from point blank range. He quickly made his way behind a pillar and took cover while the merc continued to fire. Hearing a break in the fire, Cyrus sprung from behind the pillar and charged the merc.

As the merc attempted to reload his weapon, Cyrus dove at the merc and drove his hands into the merc's neck. The merc quickly fell to the ground and Cyrus tightened his grip on the merc's neck. The merc struggled to catch his breath as Cyrus continued to strangle him, and after a brief minute of struggling the merc lost consciousness and ceased to move. Cyrus slowly stood up and reached for the rifle and clip to his side. After loading the clip into the rifle, he fired a single round into the head of the last merc. "Always confirm a kill." He thought to himself.

With his new rifle in hand, Cyrus approached the double doors on the far side of the lobby. As the doors opened, he looked inside to find half a dozen mercs standing about the ship's spacious bridge. At the end of the bridge, a large anthropomorphic rhino towered over a nearby anthropomorphic falcon. "So you're the one causing all the trouble." The feminine falcon said. "Nice to make your acquaintance."


	5. Choices

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Choices

~Cyrus held his rifle at the ready in his hands, but dared not to point it as the rest of the mercs within the room pointed their weapons at him. Though he knew he was at the mercy of the mercs, he kept his cool and stared directly at the feminine falcon. She slowly turned to face him, and her slim, fit figure nearly put him in a trance. However, her appearance was off put by the hulking rhino standing next to her. He stared angrily at Cyrus, and he cracked the knuckles in his hands in an attempt to intimidate him. "I am Mistress, leader of my crew." Mistress said to Cyrus in a smooth tone. "The dear to my side is named Duncan, and he has a bit of a short temper."

"You've been a real pain in my ass." Duncan said in a deep tone. "But it looks like you just walked right into a hornet's nest. What a shame."

Cyrus stood still and quiet as he surveyed the room. He looked to his sides and carefully watched the rest of the mercs around him. "They'll fill me up with plasma rounds before I can even lift a finger." He thought. His gaze also turned to an anthropomorphic cat wearing a black uniform chained against the wall. "Hostage, and he's pretty beaten up too. Come on, think Cyrus… Think."

Cyrus noticed Mistress slowly descend a short stair case and approach him. "Normally I'd have you shot on sight for what you did." She said to him. "But seeing that you've made it this far, I suppose I can grant you the courtesy of conversation." Mistress noticed that Cyrus continued to remain silent, and she smiled. "Aw, a strong silent type? You know, I like that in a man. But this is your last chance to say something meaningful before you die."

"I'm not much of a talker." Cyrus responded. "But I am curious. Whose operation is this? Who wants an entire migrant fleet's worth of ships?"

"Someone who is quite willing to pay top dollar for it. The man we work for is a mystery. We don't know his name, and we don't care to ask. All that we need to know, is that my crew will be paid one million credits upon this mission's completion."

"You really think ultranationalists are going to let you and your crew live after you deliver the fleet?"

"And you think we're that stupid?" Duncan asked. "No one messes with our crew. On top of that, our back up is the best in the system. They cause us trouble, we're going to put more than a dent in their operations."

"You're an idiot." Mistress and Duncan both felt surprised at Cyrus's words, and Duncan's temper slowly grew. "You're nothing but a small merc group." Cyrus continued. "And you're delivering a fleet to an organized ultranationalist group. They most likely carry military gear, they're military run; they'll make short work of a crew like you, and save themselves a million credits. Clearly big boy you're not the brains of this group, and you're probably lacking one as well."

"What the hell did you just say?!" Duncan angrily asked.

"You really are smart mouthed for a bounty hunter." Mistress said. "Are you trying to play hero? To save this pathetic little excuse of a fleet?"

"I'm just here on a job, and I'm not exactly associated with the rest of this fleet." Cyrus pointed his finger at Duncan and Duncan became confused. "But, before I go kick the bucket, I will take a piece of him."

Duncan quickly stepped in front of mistress and his anger slowly grew. "A piece of me?" He angrily asked. "Who do you think you are? Oh I'll give you more than a piece you little cub!"

"Duncan, my dear why don't you take a moment to think about this." Mistress said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "We've already won, no need to-"

"Are you just going to stand there and let her sweet talk you?" Cyrus interrupted. "You really are a half brained delinquent."

"THAT'S IT!" Duncan screamed in his rage.

Duncan quickly brushed off Mistress's hand and sprinted towards Cyrus. Seeing his hulking form sprint as fast as he did caught Cyrus off guard, and he panicked. "Oh shit!" He thought.

Duncan quickly dove and wrapped his arms around Cyrus's core as he tackled him to the ground. Cyrus dropped his rifle and felt the wind get knocked out of him as the weight difference nearly collapsed his sternum. As he lied there, Duncan quickly raised both of his fists into the air. "DIE!" He screamed as he brought his fist down.

Cyrus quickly brought his legs up and planted both of his feet onto the bottom of Duncan's fist. He struggled to keep Duncan's fists at bay, but he mustered his strength to push them both back. Taking that moment, he quickly kicked Duncan in the head twice. However, Duncan didn't even flinch and only grew angrier. "Oh come on!" Cyrus thought.

Duncan grabbed Cyrus's throat and lifted him into the air with one hand. He threw Cyrus towards the side of the bridge and Cyrus crashed through a set of terminals. As he slowly stood up, he noticed the rest of the mercs within the room did not fire their weapons. "Oh great…" He thought as he slowly rose from the ground. "Maybe I'll get lucky and only have to deal with the big guy."

Duncan charged Cyrus again, but Cyrus quickly rolled to his side to avoid being tackled a second time. To his joy, he watched as Duncan crashed into the wall of the bridge. "He's big." He thought. "Momentum. That's how I'll do this." He quickly looked to his side and noticed Mistress watching with her arms crossed. "She's not doing a thing. Ok, they really are giving me a break here. That'll be their last mistake."

Cyrus quickly brought his attention back to Duncan and noticed a blaster holstered on the back of his belt. "Bingo." He thought. Duncan quickly regained his stance and shook off the stars. He quickly charged Cyrus a second time, but Cyrus charged him in turn. Before Duncan could grab him, Cyrus slid under his legs and quickly sprung up to grab his blaster. He quickly hopped on Duncan's back and wrapped his arms around his neck. As Duncan struggled, Cyrus pointed his blaster at the nearest merc.

Cyrus quickly fired a blaster round through the merc's head and Mistress panicked. "Shoot him!" She called out. "Now!"

"But what about Duncan?!" One of the mercs quickly asked.

"Fire god damn it!"

The mercs within the room quickly opened fire upon Cyrus and Duncan. To Cyrus's surprise, Duncan's flesh proved to be incredibly durable. While the rifle rounds impacted him, Duncan shrugged off the rounds without too much struggle. Using him as a meat shield, Cyrus continued to fire his blaster at the remaining mercs within the room.

Duncan spun in circles and flailed his arms trying to grab Cyrus from his back. At the same time, Cyrus used Duncan's movements to safely hide from the merc's rifle rounds and continue firing his blaster. After a brief minute of Duncan's struggle, Cyrus successfully gunned down the rest of the mercs within the room. At the same time, Duncan's movements slowed as he absorbed dozens of rifle rounds.

Cyrus quickly hopped off Duncan's back and pointed his blaster at Duncan's head. He watched as Duncan slowly turned around and stared angrily at Cyrus. He panted heavily and felt his anger climb to new heights. "You…" He said as he panted. "I… am going to kill you…"

Cyrus continued to point his blaster at Duncan, and he smiled behind his mask. Duncan stood before him all bloodied and bruised. He absorbed dozens of rifle rounds, and most of his energy had left him. "You can really take a beating." Cyrus said to Duncan. "But you think you can keep going?"

Duncan continued to pant heavily, and didn't respond to Cyrus's question. After taking a closer look into Duncan's eyes, Cyrus smiled and lowered his blaster. "Nice knowing ya bud." He said.

Cyrus casually walked past Duncan and Duncan slowly fell forward onto the ground lifeless. As he approached Mistress, she slowly stepped back and felt fear enter her system. "Y-you…" She stuttered. "Killed them all?"

"I only killed six." Cyrus said as he approached her. "Your men killed the big guy."

Mistress tripped on her footing and she fell backwards as Cyrus continued to approach her. "Now, I've got a job to do." Cyrus said as he pointed his blaster at her. "If you don't mind, I-"

"I'll pay you triple!" Mistress called out.

Cyrus froze in his tracks and he continued to point his blaster. The thought of making even more money than what he was promised enticed him for a moment, and he stopped to think. "Triple?" He asked. "You're going to pay me triple of what I'm already making? You can afford that?"

"Yes, yes I can." Mistress responded. "This fleet is only minutes away from making the jump to Titania. You let me make the jump, and I'll pay you triple of what you're making now. On top of that, I'll give you a cut of what we'll make when the job is done."

"You're promising me a lot more than you can afford lady. Quite frankly, I think you're bluffing. You've got-"

"You can't be serious?!" The ship's commander called out from the side.

Cyrus brought his gaze to the side and looked down upon the chained commander. "You." He said to the commander. "What's your name?"

"I am Commander Jaymes Howard, and I'm the head of this migrant fleet." Jaymes responded. "I want to-"

"For starters, I don't give a damn what you want." Cyrus interrupted. "As a fleet commander, you let your defenses get swarmed by a group of low life mercs who I've taken down in less than a thirty minutes. I find that both irresponsible and sickening."

"We're a peaceful nomad fleet for god's sake! We carry no weapons, and we have no war ships! But, you've brought their leader down to her knees, and you can free us all from a grim fate. I beg of you, please!"

"Don't listen to him dear." Mistress said to Cyrus. "That console there has the coordinates locked for our destination in Titania. This fleet's hyper drives are synchronized to jump to the same coordinates as this flagship. Just initialize the jump sequence, and I'll pay you as I promised."

Cyrus did not point his blaster away from Mistress, and he stared down at her with a cold emotionless gaze. He contemplated the fortune he was about to earn, and concluded that it could set him up for the next twenty years of his life. However, he looked to his side and noticed Jaymes chained. He thought about the rage he felt when he saw the mercs harassing the civilians in the hangar, and felt sympathy towards Jaymes and his people.

His thoughts turned on each other within his own mind, and he felt his own moral code become challenged as indecision paralyzed him. He thought long and hard about the consequences of each choice, and after what felt like hours of internal torment he made his decision. He focused upon Mistress and lowered his blaster. "Get up." He told her.

Mistress slowly rose to her feet and Jaymes quickly panicked. "Are you serious?!" He called out. "You can't be serious! You're going to have all of our people killed! You can't-"

Cyrus fired a blaster round at the ground near Jaymes and Jaymes quickly silenced himself. "The next one will be through your head." Cyrus angrily said.

"You won't regret this dear." Mistress said as she walked to a nearby terminal. "You're going to make a for-"

Cyrus quickly approached Mistress and grabbed the back of her neck. He placed his blaster flush to the back of her head and she once again froze with fear. "I'm going to ask you one question." Cyrus softly said. "Can you pay me right now, at this moment, or not?"

Mistress felt a drop of sweat on her brow and she grew nervous. "I can't pay you right now, I need to deliver the fleet first." She said. "The jump will only take a few minutes, but you'll be paid within the hour."

Cyrus said nothing, and he lowered his blaster as he released Mistress. As she reached for the terminal controls, Cyrus slowly pointed his blaster once more. "That's too long." He said to Mistress.

To her surprise, Cyrus fired a blaster round directly into her head. She dropped to the ground lifeless before she could activate the hyperspace jump. As she lied there dead, Jaymes watched in shock as Cyrus slowly approached him. He looked up at Cyrus from his knees, and he grew nervous. Cyrus pointed his blaster at Jaymes head, and Jaymes looked away and closed his eyes.

One last blaster round went off, but Jaymes felt no pain. Instead, he felt his arms move freely and his chains had been broken. As he held his hands in front of him, he looked forward and noticed Cyrus working with the main bridge terminal. The empty blaster rested on the ground before him, and confusion took hold of his thoughts. "Y- You…" Jaymes softly said as he rose to his feet. "You, killed her? And freed me?"

Cyrus ignored Jaymes's words and continued to work with the terminal. "Why?" Jaymes asked. "The money? That woman promised you over a million credits, and you're throwing it all away?"

Cyrus slammed his fist on the console and Jaymes fell silent. After a brief pause, he continued to work with the console. Jaymes heard the main ship's alarms go off, and the fleet entered an emergency state. Cyrus walked away from the console and towards the exit of the bridge. Jaymes approached the console and realized that Cyrus had activated a distress signal. The signal reached out to the Cornerian military, and Jaymes became joyful. "You!" He called out.

Cyrus stopped within his tracks and looked over his shoulder back to Jaymes. "Thank you." Jaymes said. "My people will remember you as a hero, and you will always be welcome with shelter within this fleet."

Cyrus slowly turned his head and looked back at Jaymes. He took off his mask and the light from the hall outside the bridge shadowed his face. "I'm no hero." He said to Jaymes. "Nor will I ever be."

Cyrus walked out of the bridge and placed his mask back on. As the bridge doors closed behind him, he quickly moved through the halls back to the main hangar. To his surprise, his mask picked up radio chatter coming from outside of the ship. "To all ships of migrant fleet _Freedom's Progress_." The voice called out. "This is Star Fox, responding to your distress signal."

Cyrus's heart stopped and a wave of nervousness over took him. "No way…" He thought. His quick pacing turned into a full sprint as he eagerly wanted to leave the ship. "Not them, not them not them not them!" He said to himself.

As he made his way back to the hangar, he sprinted towards his fighter and noticed a handful of mercs running in various directions. He ignored them and quickly climbed into his fighter's cockpit. As he powered up the engines, his computer sounded off. "Alert." The ship computer said. "Five new fighter class signatures detected. Twelve new fleet class signatures will be arriving from hyperspace in sixty seconds."

"Yea, great." He hastily responded. "I got that."

Cyrus flew his fighter out of the hangar and quickly away from the fleet. He looked to his sides and noticed five advanced Cornerian fighters effortlessly shooting down merc fighters. These five fighters moved faster than anything he had ever seen, and he slammed his foot on his booster pedals to escape the carnage.

As Cyrus flew away, he noticed a lock on warning appear on his HUD. He looked over his shoulder and noticed the _Arwing II_ directly on his tail. Inside the cockpit, Fox McCloud, donning his signature green flight uniform, held his hands steady on his flight controls. "I've got a straggler making a break for it." Fox said into his communicator. "I'm locked on, taking the-"

Before Fox could squeeze his triggers, his target quickly pulled up and performed a summersault to get behind him. "That's my move!" He called out. "Team, I've got an ace here!" Fox banked to his side in an effort to deter Cyrus from opening fire. However, he noticed no lock on warning appear on his HUD, nor laser fire approach his fighter. "What?" He asked. "He's not fighting back?"

Cyrus pressed his foot on his booster pedals and sped towards the rear of the _Arwing II_. He inverted his fighter and managed to fly it directly above Fox's. For a brief moment, the two both looked upwards and locked gazes from their cockpits. In those moments, Fox stared into the black and white mask with a look of confusion and amazement. At the same time, Cyrus looked at Fox with awe and suspicion.

As Cyrus sped past the _Arwing II_ , he banked to the side and quickly flew off into the distance. Fox watched the _Seeker_ disappear into hyperspace, and new questions filled his mind. "Hey Fox!" Falco called out over the communicator. "You got that last merc or what?"

Fox did not respond, and he continued to look out to his side. "Yea…" He softly said. "He's gone."


	6. Consequences

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Consequences

~Cyrus hands would not stop shaking, and he felt fear the likes of which he hadn't felt before. Even when he sat comfortably within Paolo's bar, even when he held Paolo's most famous mix drink in his hand; the thought of the run in with Star Fox haunted him. "Them." He said to Paolo while trying to calm his nerves. "The Star Fox team. THE Star Fox team. Fox McCloud, of Star Fox. He locked on to my fighter, and nearly ended my life right then and there."

Paolo had been listening to Cyrus's story about saving the fleet while trying to calm his nerves. "Kid, they ain't shot ya down." He said to Cyrus. "You still alive, breathin' and kickin'. Ya got there one of my special mixes. Should help ya take the edge off and calm them nerves of yours."

"Did the money ever get transferred into my secondary?" Cyrus hastily asked.

Paolo looked through his PDA and a list of accounts appeared. He noticed one account had an increase of 250,000 credits and he smiled. "Yea kid." Paolo responded. "Two fifty been added. Quite the deal ya brought in witcha."

"Great…" Cyrus said in his relief.

Despite giving Cyrus the news of the funds being transferred, Paolo felt off. He looked at Cyrus and sighed as he felt depression sink into his system. He reminisced about all of the past jobs that he passed to Cyrus for completion, and thought about all the times he made drinks for him. "Hey kid, I need ya to listen to me for a sec." He softly said. "This uh… This gonna be important."

Cyrus looked at Paolo with worry as the look in Paolo's eyes made Cyrus feel uneasy. "Paolo?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

"That fleet ya set free…" Paolo said. "Those 'ultranationalists'. They ain't no ultranationalists. They be bounty hunters, like ya self. Ya know who ya just pissed off kid?"

Judging from the look of worry in Paolo's eyes, Cyrus had realized he made a tremendous mistake. "No…" He softly said. "That… That's not possible… Hive?!"

Paolo reached under the bar counter and placed a blaster on top. Cyrus looked at the blaster and his eyes widened. "King and Hive sent me the message, and they ain't happy 'bout what ya pulled kid." He said. "He said that the job was an act of treason by an unknown client that ain't gone through Hive, and now he declared ya a Renegade. He's sendin' the Hive clippers after ya, and placed a bounty on ya head. But, between you and me. I think whatcha did was right thing to do. Ya saved them people, 'bout a couple thousand of them too. Knowin' King, he'd bust a cap in every one of them and sleep like a cub that same night."

Cyrus looked down at the blaster and noticed that it pointed towards him. "Paolo, what are you-"

"Let me finish kid." Paolo interrupted. "In about three minutes, I'm going to take this here piece and put a round into ya skull. This is assuming ya don't take the piece from my hand and knock me cold."

Cyrus sat up straight and looked at Paolo dead in the eye. "In that time, I'd also make sure to not warn ya that a bomb been planted under your ship." Paolo continued. "And, knowing my unwaverin' loyalty to King, I'd also be sure to not mention that even if ya do make it outta atmosphere, there gonna be a Hive frigate sent out by King carrying 'bout a dozen fighters waitin' to blow your sorry ass into next year."

"I don't suppose you'd ever mention if I had any back up at all?" Cyrus asked.

"Well, in the sixty seconds I have before I kill ya… yea actually. That shady ass client that you took that last job from? He sent me a message too. Said that all you is need to do is make it outta the planet and into orbit. Said that he'd take care of ya from now on."

Cyrus set down his mix drink and sighed. He lowered his head and felt sadness enter his system. "Damn it Paolo…" he softly said.

Paolo reached for his blaster and finished what was left of Cyrus's mix drink. "Kid, of all the clippers that King's been throwin' around, you always been my favorite." He said in a cheerful and reassuring tone. "Been a long time since I picked ya and we did good you and I. I ain't trading that time for the world. Shit, I been any older; I'd practically say you was like my own kid."

"What's King going to do to you once he finds out you helped me escape?" Cyrus asked.

"Well knowin' that self-righteous piece of shit? Odds are he gonna make me close up shop for good. Might be time for me to kick the can one last time."

"So… he'll end up killing you…"

"Yea, sorry kid. Now times up. I've done my part in takin' care of ya. Now ya gotta go out and take care of ya self."

Cyrus closed his eyes and he smiled. He felt a feeling of warmth and comfort within his heart the likes of which he hadn't felt before in his life. "Thanks Paolo." He softly said.

Paolo quickly pointed the blaster at Cyrus's head. Cyrus grabbed the blaster from Paolo's hand and he delivered a powerful cross to Paolo's temple. Paolo fell on top of his counter top unconscious, and Cyrus quickly fled the bar. He looked around his surroundings on the street outside the bar, and noticed no suspicious characters in sight. However, that didn't stop him from running to the star port where his fighter is docked. As Cyrus ran, a call came in on his ear piece. "Who is this?" He hastily asked.

"It seems that your decision has brought about some dire consequences." The Black Sun agent said over the communicator. "Your organization has-"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I was close to being done with this life! One job from you and now I've been marked as a Renegade. Do you even know what that means in my line of work?!"

"To be honest, I could care less. But right now, my interest is to get you out of Titania alive and in one piece."

"You have completely ruined me! Why should I trust you?"

"Because, Cyrus, I am the only chance you've got at surviving today. Now, after you've disarmed the explosive underneath your fighter, I've got back up coming to bail you out of the system. Just get into orbit and I'll take care of the rest."

Cyrus ran through the doors of the star port, and he quickly ran towards the hangar that housed his fighter. He quickly found the explosive device planted underneath his fighter, and disarmed it. After climbing into his cockpit and igniting his fighter's engines, he brought the _Seeker_ into the air and quickly sped away from Kor City.

Cyrus breached the atmosphere in a matter of moments, and he quickly noticed numerous hostile contacts approaching him. He noticed a Hive frigate on the far end of the system, and he activated his fighter's weapons systems. "If you've got a plan, now would be a very good time!" He said into his communicator. "Any time now!"

"I forwarded a set of coordinates to your computer." The Black Sun agent responded. "I'll cover your escape."

"Cover?! Cover me with what? I don't see any friendly ships in the area!"

Immediately after his statement, Cyrus noticed eight new contacts appear on his radar. Eight black fighters quickly came from hyperspace near Cyrus's _Seeker_ and formed up on his wing. Cyrus looked to his sides and quickly recognized the eight fighters that surrounded him. "That's impossible." He thought. "Star Fox blew these ships up already."

The _Archangel, Nightshade, Black Mist, Night Hawk, Executioner, Swarm, Havok,_ and _Shadow_ sped in front of the _Seeker_ and engaged the Hive fighters approaching. "My fighters will clear the enemy." The Black Sun agent said to Cyrus. "Now if you'd be so kind to get your ass out of there now!"

Cyrus sharply banked his fighter to the side while the rest of the Black Sun fighters engaged the Hive fighters. Before he would make his jump, Cyrus became shocked at how quickly the Black Sun fighters destroyed the enemy. The last sight he saw before his fighter shot out into hyperspace was that of the Hive frigate being destroyed.

The blue hue of hyperspace did little to calm his nerves, and his thoughts raced within his mind about the things that had just happened. His damnation from Hive, the Black Sun fighters cutting down the enemy with little to no difficulty; his eyes widened and he hyperventilated within his cockpit. Sweat fell from his brow and fear consumed him. "What is happening?!" He asked himself. "Why?! Why now?! Why is this happening to me?"

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes to try to control his thoughts. As he did, so did memories of his past. Moments after he lost his sight while looking into the spotlight of the Cornerian police VTOL, he brought his head back into the car and rubbed his eyes. Carter continued to drive in the seat next to him, and he reloaded his blaster. "I'm on my last mag." He said to Carter. "Are they coming to help us or not?!"

Carter pulled his blaster out from behind him and handed it to Cyrus. "Grab mine and get that bird off our ass." He said. "And make it fast! Hive won't want company when we reach the-"

The Cornerian police VTOL suddenly exploded within the sky, and the chasing police cars exploded as well. Cyrus and Carter looked behind them and noticed a white and black fighter quickly fly above their car. "You two are in so much trouble." A feminine voice said over their communicators.

"Kaitlyn?!" Cyrus and Carter said in unison.

Within the fighter, an anthropomorphic white furred vixen donning black and white flight armor looked down upon the getaway car. "I'll keep them off your back." She said into her communicator. "Head towards the rendezvous, there's a Hive shuttle waiting to get you two off world."

Though Kaitlyn saved them both, Cyrus and Carter both felt a feeling of dread fall over them. "If Kait is here, then King must be pissed." Carter said to Cyrus. "Tell me your sister is here on her own accord. Please?"

Cyrus did not respond and sat back in his seat. He held his hand over his ribs as the pain continued within him. "Let's just get through this." He responded. "I can see the park."

After a brief minute of driving, Cyrus and Carter arrived at a small park a few miles from the city. They pulled their hovercar into the park entrance and quickly dismounted. They looked around them and noticed a small shuttle resting within a clearing of trees within the park. As they approached the shuttle, they also noticed a group of bounty hunters dressed in black tactical gear emerging from the shadows. Cyrus looked at Carter and took a deep breath. "We're definitely in trouble."

Cyrus reopened his eyes as his alarm sounded off within the cockpit of his fighter. The memories of the past quickly vanished, and he heard a countdown sound off from his on board computer. Within moments, he arrived within orbit of Macbeth and wondered what he would be doing there. As he flew towards the planet, he reopened his communications line with the Black Sun agent. "Are you still there?" He said into his communicator.

Following his question, Cyrus looked to the side and noticed the eight Black Sun fighters emerge from hyperspace. "Already?" He thought. "They must have made short work of the frigate and the fighters."

"I see you've made it." The Black Sun agent said. "Welcome to Macbeth."

"What am I doing here?"

"I'm sending you coordinates. Bring your ship to a landing and we're going to talk. Face to face."

Cyrus noticed a new waypoint appear on his HUD. At the same time, the eight Black Sun fighters flew off in a different direction. As Cyrus followed his new waypoint, he approached Macbeth from the night side and recognized the landscape below.

The new coordinates led Cyrus to Omnar Crater, where he completed his contract on bringing in Bosner. As he flew over the crater, he looked about the ground below and marveled at the ruins of the old warehouse facility. The aftermath of his destruction left little standing within the warehouse complex, and he felt a small sense of guilt enter his system. "I really did a number on this place didn't I..." He softly said to himself.

Cyrus brought his fighter to a landing near one of the ruined warehouse buildings and powered down his engines. He equipped his mask and his blasters, and kept his short blade sheathed behind his waist. As he dismounted his fighter, he noticed a pair of contacts appear on his mask's HUD. He looked into the sky and watched a pair of fighters descend from the night sky to land in the crater. Cyrus recognized one of the fighters to be the _Archangel_ of the Black Suns, but he couldn't recognize the other fighter before it landed.

Cyrus approached the two fighters as they touched down onto the ground and held his hand over his blaster. As he saw the two cockpits open, the Black Sun agent and a green robed figure wearing a hood over its head dismounted the second fighter. As Cyrus approached the two, he quickly recognized the second fighter as it came into view. His heart stopped for a moment as the sight of the _Arwing II_ resting behind the _Archangel_ stunned him. "This cannot be." He said to himself.

As the two approached, Fox McCloud lowered his hood behind his head and stood tall next to the Black Sun agent. Cyrus also noticed the Black Sun agent remove his mask and he looked upon a silver fox with a scarred face. "Hello, Cyrus." Axios said.

Cyrus immediately recognized Axios's face, and quickly made a connection. "I know you!" Cyrus said as he pointed at Axios. "You're Axios! You used to be one of the Black Suns. Hive has records of you, and your involvement with Star Fox. You're supposed to be dead."

"Glad to see that word gets around, even when I don't want it to." Axios responded. "I'm sure you already know the man to my side."

"What is he doing here?"

"I'm here to lend you a hand in your current situation." Fox responded. "You've been the subject of talk between my team and me. They were wondering why I let you go, and I had quite the time explaining to them why my instincts told me not to shoot you down."

"I suppose you want some kind of a thank you?"

"You can start by taking off that mask."

Cyrus felt briefly wounded by Fox's words, and stood in silence. Seeing that Axios had removed his, and that Fox approached him with non-hostile intentions; Cyrus reached behind his head and undid the straps to his mask. Axios and Fox both marveled for a moment at the sight of Cyrus's face, and felt a new sense of welcoming from Cyrus. "Better?" Cyrus asked.

Fox smiled at Cyrus and crossed his arms. "Good enough for me." He said. "Axios, this is going to be a favor I'm calling in some time in the future. I hope you know this."

"Duly noted." Axios responded.

"Hey, focus you two." Cyrus interjected. "You said you wanted to help me? How exactly do you plan to do that?"


	7. A Sister's Love

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

A Sister's Love

~Cyrus sat on top of a crate within the ruins of one of the warehouses. Fox and Axios stood before him and the three conversed about their plans for the future. "I'm still wondering why you're going out of your way to help me." Cyrus said. "Why go through the trouble? I'm a total stranger to you two."

Fox looked at Axios with a questioning look, and wondered the same thing. "He's got a point." He said. "Why are you helping him?"

Axios thought back to his times after the destruction of the Black Suns mobile headquarters. He reminisced briefly about rebuilding his fighters, and going through the work to obtain each of their unique modifications. "Fox, remember a while back I sent you a message about rebuilding?" He asked.

"Yea, something about finding new followers?" Fox asked. "Don't tell me this guy is going to be one of them."

"One of what?" Cyrus asked. "What follower?"

"I'm looking to rebuild my broken organization. To do that, I need eight people to follow me."

"Oh… I see. So what, when all of this is over you expect me to work for you? Listen, Axios, quite frankly you can kiss my ass. You've got me into this mess and I feel no obligation to return the favor."

"Not even if I get you out of this mess?"

"How in god's name do you think you can help me out of this mess?"

"Look, if I may chime in." Fox interjected. "Axios might have got you into this mess, but he won't be alone in getting you out of it. You work with us, then I'll have Star Fox help you also. And to be frank, I honestly don't care much about what you do when this is over. The least you could do however is show him a bit of gratitude."

Cyrus sat silent, and Fox's lecture sunk in deep to his thoughts. He calmed his nerves and took a deep breath. "So, what do you want to know?" He asked.

"Why don't we start from the beginning?" Fox asked.

Cyrus leaned back for a moment and sat up straight. "Ok." He said. "This life started about fifteen years ago, when I was fifteen."

Cyrus closed his eyes for a moment and thought about a time when he felt weak, helpless, and hungry. He saw himself running through the streets within a rusted city as a pair of cops chased him. "I was born in Papetoon, on the outskirts of a city called Norasalem." He said. "I was a rebellious kid, and didn't really see the value in loving a normal life. Ran away from my crap home, and let bad decisions and regrets control the rest of my life."

He continued to watch himself flee the cops, but eventually he ran into a white vixen and stopped in his tracks. Cyrus stuttered backwards for a moment, and the other cops finally caught him. As the other two cops restrained him, Kaitlyn raised her hand and the two cops released him. "My sister was the only real authority figure in my life. She was a cop, and a damned good one too." Cyrus continued. "Kaitlyn, surprising as it was, also ran from home. She had ten foot stick stuck up her ass since the day I first met her; cold, brutal, but put my well-being before hers any day of the week. Kaitlyn had a higher sense of purpose than I, and she actually had her shit together. She joined the police force in Norasalem and climbed the ranks rather quickly. Good thing too, cause she was the one who always covered for my ass whenever I screwed up. Which was a lot actually."

Cyrus opened his eyes and recounted a day where he sat within a cell in the Norasalem police station. "I spent most of my nights in a cell." He continued. "Since I ran from home and my parents wanted nothing to do with me, my sister would always arrest me for some petty crime so that I had a bunk for the night. I was a thief, and I was pretty damn good at the job. My sis would always forge some paperwork to make sure I didn't stay in a cell for life, and I made sure not to do a crime that was too serious for my sis to handle. But, one night after I stole some food and got thrown into a cell, she came to me with a new look on her face."

He saw her face in his mind, and saw that she had blood on her hands and her eyes were that of a killer. "Get up." She said as she unlocked his cell. "We're leaving."

"What?" He asked. "Kait, why do you have blood on your-"

"I said get your ass up and let's go!"

Cyrus brought his attention back towards Fox and Axios before him. "She went back home for the first time in a few years, and found our drunken father beating our helpless mother to death." He said. "She killed our father, and comforted our mother in her last moments. When she told me all of this, I had no idea what to think. For the first time in my life, I was scared shitless. But I trusted my sister with my life. She stole a fighter and got us off world and we docked with a frigate once we were within orbit. That was my first encounter with Hive."

"Turns out a week earlier she made a deal, one that would change our lives forever. She and I work for Hive as their bounty hunters, and we get to earn a living. Wouldn't say it was an honest one, but we thrived regardless. Since I was too young to be one of their bounty hunters, I trained with a bunch of other orphans. Kids who had similar backgrounds like mine, but none of them had the skills."

"Well this wouldn't be the first orphan story I've heard." Fox said as he looked at Axios. "Remind you of any one?"

"Not now, Fox." Axios responded.

"Bet you know what it's like then." Cyrus said to Axios. "Maybe you and I have more in common than I thought. Either way, that's irrelevant. By the time I hit twenty, I was old enough to be a bounty hunter. Each bounty hunter made a contract with the man himself, King. If you carry out one hundred bounties, he'll let you walk away a free man from Hive. Sounds easy, except every bounty is dangerous, and they don't come every day. The luckiest ones got about ten bounties in one year."

"Bounties ranged from all kinds of missions. Assassinations, escorts, pickup and delivery; you name it. Most of them involved some kind of violence however, and all bounties go through King at some point. Once a hunter completes his fiftieth bounty, King calls them back to become one of his clippers."

"What's a clipper?" Fox asked.

"A clipper takes on the more dangerous bounties. Nine times out of ten a clipper will be carrying out some variant of search and destroy. Assassinations and destruction become their main agenda, and if there is a person of interest then they bring 'em in dead or alive. The client would always pay a bonus too if certain objectives are met."

"Has anyone ever completed one hundred missions?" Axios asked.

"Most of the new hunters end up being killed before they can even hit thirty. Some of the stronger ones make it to about fifty or sixty before they get killed. Very few make it past seventy, and fewer still make it further. Only three clippers have made it past eighty. Myself, my sister Kaitlyn, and my best friend Carter. But, my sister was the first to ever reach one hundred."

"What happened to them?" Fox asked.

Cyrus didn't respond, and his thoughts reached deep into his memories. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and thought about the past. After they boarded the Hive shuttle and left Corneria, Cyrus and Carter sat on bench inside the passenger cabin and looked out the windows. Cyrus could see his sister flying in her fighter near the shuttle, but he felt his worries grow the longer he sat. "Where're we going?" He asked the shuttle crew.

"King wants to see you both." One of the Hive members responded. "And your sister too."

"Do you know what he wants?" Carter asked.

"That's for him to know, and for the rest of us to find out." Another member responded. "But, he sounded pissed when he sent us to find you two."

"Great…" Cyrus said with a sigh. "Let's get this over with."

After a few minutes, the Hive shuttle approached a hyperspace launch ring on the far orbit of Corneria. As the shuttle passed through the ring, it shot out into hyper space and disappeared from Corneria. Moments after, the shuttle reappeared within Sector X and flew towards a large station floating within the region. Seeing the station from the window, Cyrus swallowed his breath and felt nervousness ensue him. Questions soon filled his mind and he could do little to calm his own nerves.

Time would pass, and the shuttle would dock within a hangar in the station. As the shuttle doors opened, the Hive members inside pushed Carter and Cyrus out and towards a hover limo. Cyrus looked to his side and noticed his sister dismounting her fighter, and approaching the two of them. "Kait!" Cyrus called out.

Kaitlyn ignored Cyrus and lowered her head. The look on her face became grim, and this only added to Cyrus's worry. "Kait, what's going on?" He asked. Again, she responded with only silence. As Cyrus and Carter reached the limo, the door opened from the inside and the man inside paralyzed Cyrus and Carter. An anthropomorphic lion dressed in a black suit with a cane looked at the two of them with disdain and anger. "Get in." King said.

Cyrus and Carter quickly got into the back of the limo, and they sat across from King. To Cyrus's shock, Kaitlyn got into the limo from the other side and sat next to King. The limo drove away from the hangar into a city within the station and the four sat in silence for a few moments. However, both Cyrus and Carter could feel King's anger, and they both knew that trouble had found them. "Once a clipper is made…" King said to the two of them. "He will pursue his missions with what resources he has, and will do so without the support from Hive. So tell me, why did I send aid to rescue two of my best clippers when by right I should have left you both for dead?"

Cyrus and Carter did not respond, and the two of them both had the same question going through their minds. "There is something I feel that you two should know. Especially yourself, Cyrus." King said. "Your sister has just recently finished her 100th bounty."

"What?" Cyrus asked. He looked at Kaitlyn with shock. "Did you really? When? H-How?"

"Just yesterday." Kaitlyn softly responded.

"At the time of her last bounty's completion, her contract with me had expired." King said. "I offered her a chance of freedom, to walk away from Hive. She accepted the offer."

"That's good news though." Carter said. "I mean, she can go free. Why is she still here?"

"This goes back to my original question. Why did I send Hive to rescue two clippers?"

Cyrus couldn't find the answer, and he raced within his mind to understand what was happening. "Why did you come for us?" He asked. "Why didn't you let us die?"

King's expression turned grim, and Kaitlyn lowered her head and looked away. "Your sister quickly learned of your assassination mission on the Cornerian senator." King said in a low tone. "She learned that you both had been compromised, and was doomed to death for your sloppiness. She came to me, pleading that I send aid to rescue you both. I told her that your lives were condemned, and that I would not break the code of the Hive clippers. So she made a deal with me. She would forfeit her freedom and serve me personally, to have me help you this one time."

Cyrus and Carter both sat still in shock, and Cyrus's heart sank. "Kait…" He softly said. "Y-you didn't…"

The limo came to a stop and the door quickly opened. A pair of Hive members escorted Kaitlyn out of the limo and Cyrus quickly stood from his seat. "Kait!" He called out. "Wait!"

King quickly drew a blaster from behind him and pointed it at Cyrus. Seeing the blaster, Kaitlyn quickly stopped within her tracks and panicked. "King!" She called out. "You made a deal!"

King sat still and contemplated pulling the trigger on Cyrus. "You're right." He said. "The deal, was to save your brother's life." King turned his gaze towards Carter and pointed the blaster to him. "But not his."

King pulled the trigger and fired a blaster round into Carter's chest. Cyrus's eyes widened as shock entered his system, and he rushed towards Carter's aid. At the same time, the other doors of the limo opened up and another pair of Hive members grabbed Cyrus and Carter. They threw them both on the ground and King looked down at Cyrus once more. "Know this." King said to Cyrus. "Your sister values your wellbeing more than her own. This is the first and last time I will ever give a second chance to a clipper. But, your mistake and carelessness will not go unpunished."

Cyrus couldn't focus clearly on King's words as he tended to Carter bleeding out next to him. The other Hive members entered the limo with King, and Cyrus could see his sister being taken into a building on the other end of the street. "You bastard!" Cyrus shouted at King. "Why?!"

"I don't have to answer that." King responded. "Congratulations, you've completed your eightieth bounty. When you complete the last twenty, over the next several years, I will offer you a choice. After everything your sister has done for you, I'll give you the chance to return the favor. You will either choose your sister's freedom, or your own. The years to come as you continue your bounties will give you time to think about that decision."

The limo doors closed shut and the limo drove away leaving Carter and Cyrus alone on the street within the station. Cyrus held onto Carter's hand tightly and held his other hand on top of the wound. "I can't keep the pressure." Cyrus said in his panic. "Carter, we'll get you through this, I'll get-"

"Cyrus…" Carter softly said. "Just… let it go…"

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

Carter reached into his vest and pulled out his white mask. However, the plasma round punched a hole through one half of the mask and cracked the edges. "Save your sister..." He softly said. "And… live…"

Carter took one last breath before life left him, and Cyrus sat there next to his corpse feeling completely helpless and alone. As he concluded reminiscing about the past, he held his mask tightly in his hands while sitting before Fox and Axios. The two of them looked down and made the connection with the half white half black mask, and noticed a small crease within the center where the two halves were welded together. "I see…" Axios softly said. "And your sister?"

"King never let me see or hear from her again." Cyrus responded. "I've never felt such a drive to get bounties done. I was going to offer up my freedom in exchange to give Kait hers. But, seems like I won't get the chance now."

"Do you know if she's alive?" Fox asked.

"She is. I feel it in my gut, like something is telling me she's alive. But now I worry. Since I've been marked as a Renegade, I'm not sure if King is going to keep her alive. Her one chance at freedom is completely history."

"Maybe not."

Cyrus looked up at Fox with a new gaze. Fox could see pain in Cyrus's eyes, and felt his gaze pierce his heart. He could tell that Cyrus longed to see his sister once more. It's what he wanted so desperately within his heart. Feeling sympathy for him, Fox took a deep breath and extended his hand. "Star Fox will help you get your sister back." He cheerfully said. "And we'll make sure that Hive will never come after you again."

Cyrus looked at Fox's hand and felt a wave of relief overtake him. The man who had previously locked onto his fighter and nearly ended his life is now extending his hand in friendship and kindness. A wave of gratitude engulfed Cyrus's emotions, and he took Fox's hand and held it tight. "Thank you." He said.


	8. The Calm before the Storm

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

The Calm before the Storm

~After Cyrus concluded his tale, the three briefly talked about the future and parted ways. Axios and Cyrus remained in Macbeth, though Fox did not know where they went. Fox instead left the planet and returned to Corneria.

The travel time allowed Fox to think about what he would do for Axios and Cyrus, and he thought about Hive and the potential danger they could pose to the peace in Lylat. The time spent landing his fighter and traveling to his home allowed him to think of his family. The drive home in his hovercar allowed him to reflect on the decisions that led him to his current situation, and thought carefully on the future ones to follow.

Fox eventually arrived at a small manor-like home on the outer edges of Corneria's Alpha City. He left the hovercar on an entry driveway and approached the front door. Before he could open the door himself, a blue vixen opened the door from the inside. "Welcome back." She said.

"Krystal." Fox said. "Thanks."

Fox walked through the door and Krystal closed it behind him. He ignored Krystal's irritated gaze as he walked past her, though a part of him could sense it coming from behind him. He felt tired upon walking in and walked through the house to a nearby couch. As he sat down, Krystal came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "How is he?" She asked.

Fox brought his hand up to Krystal's cheek and held her close. "Who?" He asked.

"Who do you think?" Krystal said. "Axios. How is he?"

"Busy. He's on another mission, one that's going to require Star Fox's help."

"Another one? He needs to take a break. What is he after?"

Fox took one of Krystal's hands and placed it on his temple. "It'd be easier if I showed you." He said.

Krystal took that moment to close her eyes and used her telepathy to tap into Fox's mind. She saw his memories of meeting with Cyrus, and hearing his tale. Within a few moments, she learned of Hive, of King, and the danger that Hive posed towards the peace to Lylat. "I see." She said after she exited Fox's mind. "And about this Cyrus character, you're going to help him? A complete stranger?"

"I'm doing it as a favor to Axios." Fox responded. "One that I intend to hold him to in the future."

Krystal sighed and walked around the couch. She sat in another couch across from Fox. She leaned back to the side and used her elbow to prop her hand on the side of her head. Fox could see Krystal's disapproval in her eyes, and he could also sense worry coming from her too. "How much longer…?" Krystal softly asked. "We're going to retire soon, and we can't go out and do favors for him on a whim. On top of that, we do have a son to look after."

Fox's eyes widened for a brief moment as Krystal's words touched a nerve. Throughout his time gone from home, he had completely forgotten about his son. "Where is he?" He asked. "Where's Marcus?"

"He's taking a nap upstairs." Krystal responded. "He had an early morning start at the academy so they let him out earlier. I picked him up and brought him home, and he's been asleep ever since."

Fox took a deep breath and felt a small sense of relief fill his system. "I see." He softly said. "I know what you're getting at Krys, but while we're still active we can still do some good for the system."

"I know Fox, I know." Krystal said. "But at some point, it's going to have to come to an end. We're at a time of peace right now, and the demand for Star Fox has been dwindling." Krystal looked above her to the upstairs hall and she thought about Marcus. "Knowing him, he's going to take over Star Fox someday. When that day comes, I'm going to be as terrified as I would be proud."

"You and me both." Fox leaned forward and brought his hands together. "He has embodied more from me than I had realized. Almost scary knowing that I might have been like that when I was younger."

"Oh what do you mean 'might have been'?" Krystal sarcastically asked. "And less you forget, he also inherited my telepathy. You have no idea how many times I've caught him snooping around in the other children's minds, and he even tries to dig around in ours."

"He's a kid with a very special gift. You have to realize that a kid will always abuse a toy until he's reprimanded."

Krystal let out a sigh and let her head sink behind her. "Do you think we did a good enough job?" She asked. "Being his parents?"

"He's disciplined, smart, and head strong. We raised him well so far, and I expect we'll continue to do so. Don't worry about him." Fox stood form his couch and sat down next to Krystal. He took her hand in his and gently rubbed her shoulder with his other. "I think about the two of you every time I step into the cockpit. I think only of coming home once the mission is over. The two of you is what keep me going, and ever since the Black Suns I've been being more careful than ever. I don't need to be a telepath to know what's going through your head."

Krystal let out a sigh and leaned into Fox's chest. She brought her legs up onto the couch and rested her head on Fox's lap. As she held one of Fox's hands with both of hers, Fox gently brushed her hair off to the side out of her face and gently rubbed the side of Krystal's head. She closed her eyes and visualized the two of them on their honeymoon in planet Sauria. They enjoyed their time together at a cabin made for them by a lake. The two of them waist deep in the warm water, and Fox holding Krystal close in his arms while she did the same. "I wish we could take another vacation to Sauria." She said. "To go back to the lake where we spent the week. Just the two of us with no war to worry about, no mission to take away our free time."

Fox closed his eyes and smiled at the thought. "I would love to." He softly said. "When this is over, why don't we do that? Go back to Sauria for a week, and enjoy time at the cabin?"

Krystal chuckled at Fox's suggestion. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"We'd have to bring Marcus." Krystal cheerfully said. "And I don't think I'd want him to see how you and I have our fun."

Fox's face turned bright red and a small feeling of embarrassment gave rise to nervousness in his belly. "Oh geez…" He chuckled. "Well we could introduce him to Tricky. Even with him being king of the Earthwalkers, his inner child couldn't pass up playing with Marcus."

Krystal turned herself over and smiled at Fox. "That might actually be a good plan." She said. "But what are we going to do with him in the mean time? We can't bring him with us on our next mission."

"We'll leave him with Lucy." Fox said. "He can play with Abigail, and Slippy and Amanda will likely leave Freddy with her too. She's always happy to watch to kids when we're on mission."

"You have another mission?" A child asked from above.

Fox and Krystal both looked up and were surprised to see their young, blue furred vulpine out of bed. The young vulpine wore a blue shirt over black pajama pants, and he gently rubbed his eyes upon looking down. "Marcus." Fox said. "You're up."

Marcus leaned against a stair rail as he looked down at his parents. He let out a long yawn followed by a quick shake of his head to wake himself up. "I had a weird dream." He said. "It got scary so I woke up."

"A nightmare?" Krystal asked.

"No, just a bad dream. It doesn't bother me. I heard you talking, are you two going on another mission?"

Fox and Krystal looked at each other for a brief moment and Fox let out a sigh. "I'm afraid so kid." Fox responded. "One of dad's old friends needs some help with some bad guys. So Star Fox is going to back him up."

Marcus smiled down at Fox and extended his hand to give him a thumbs up. "I want to hear about it when you get back!" He cheerfully said. "Never give up, and trust your instincts. Right dad?"

Hearing Marcus say those words rekindled old memories and emotions. The phrase originated from his father, James McCloud, and would be reiterated to him by Peppy Hare, the current general of the Cornerian military. Though Marcus was too young to understand the significance of the phrase, Fox felt a new warmth enter his heart. "You make me so proud, Marcus." He thought to himself.

Fox smiled and gave Marcus a thumbs up in return. "That's right, Marcus." He cheerfully said.

Marcus turned away from the rail and rushed down the stairs to see his parents. As he touched down on the main floor, Krystal rose from the couch and gave Fox a quick kiss on the cheek before walking towards the kitchen. She turned her head to see Marcus quickly walking through the hall into the living room, and she smiled. "Want something to eat?" She asked Marcus.

"Yes please!" He responded. "Dad, can we go outside and play with the monkey bars?"

Fox smiled and stood from the couch. He looked through a windowed door on the back of his house and stared at a swing and slide set he built for Marcus to play with. The set also had a rail of monkey bars attached to one end, and he knew those were Marcus's favorite. "Sure, why not." He said as he extended his hand. "Come on, think you can do a pull up?"

"Yes I can!" Marcus cheerfully responded as he rushed towards Fox.

The two of them left through the back door, and Krystal smiled as she had the sink running to clean a set of plates for the table. Watching Fox play with Marcus brought peace to her heart. Knowing that the two of them were safe, and living happily before her eyes allowed her to be relaxed inside. For a moment, she closed her eyes and thought about her parents. She felt a small tear brew in her eye, and she took a deep breath. "Father… mother… " She softly said in prayer. "Thank you, for watching over us. Thank you for giving me the man of my dreams, and the treasure that is my son."

As the McCloud family enjoyed their time together, Axios had brought Cyrus to a hidden base inside one of the mountain ranges in Macbeth. At the moment, the two of them stood within a large circular room filled with terminals and a circular holotable in the center. "Clearly you are something else." Cyrus said as he examined his surroundings. "This base, where the hell did this come from?"

Axios operated a terminal on the opposite end of the entrance. He didn't respond to Cyrus's question and continued his work. "Hey, you listening to me?" Cyrus asked.

"Yes, I'm sure he is." A voice responded. "Though at the moment he is preoccupied with one of his designs."

Cyrus felt caught off guard and he looked around the room. "What the hell?" He asked. "Who's there? Where are you?"

"Where am I?" The voice responded. "I'm in front of you, and behind you. Above you, and below you. On top of that, while you're inside this base, I can see your every move."

"Sigma, quit screwing with him." Axios said as he worked with his terminal. "Holotable. Now."

"As you wish. If you would direct your attention to the holotable in the center."

Cyrus looked at the holotable in front of him and noticed the holographic image of the Black Sun's crest appear above. "I see now." He said. "You're an A.I."

"My designation is Sigma." Sigma said to Cyrus. "I am Axios's A.I. assistant. I keep records of his daily missions and keep this facility running."

"That explains where he got all of his tech, and how he rebuilt his original eight fighters. Go figure."

"Is there something I might be able to assist you with?"

Cyrus looked at Sigma's crest and sighed. His curiosity slowly took hold, and he thought about what Axios has done since the end of the Black Suns Conflict. "Sigma, show me the list of missions Axios has gone on since the end of the Black Suns Conflict."

In response to his command, the Black Sun crest disappeared and a long list of mission titles and dates appeared. The listed travelled from the ground upwards, and Axios could see dozens upon dozens of past recorded missions appear over the holotable. "Geez." Cyrus softly said as the list continued to transpire. "He's been this busy over the past eight years?"

"Axios has deemed it necessary to act as a replacement for Star Fox over the past years." Sigma said. "He, along with my assistance, have safeguarded Lylat from exactly 648 recognized threats. That is the same number of conducted missions that Axios has had me record for him within these terminals."

"Of course…" Cyrus crossed his arms and noticed a new set of files appear on the table before him. "Open up the projects database." He said.

The list of files disappeared and eight project files appeared in an octagon before him. He recognized the names of each of the project files, as they were each named after one of the elite Black Suns fighters. "Go figure." Cyrus thought. "Only Axios would make-"

Cyrus noticed a ninth file appear in the center of the original eight. " _Raven_?" He asked. "What's this? Open this file."

Cyrus watched as the other eight files disappeared and the ninth one opened. The design of a new, highly advanced fighter appeared before him. One that housed six of the eight Black Sun fighter modifications. "Whoa…" He softly said. "Is this fighter complete?"

"The _Raven_ is currently in its planning and design stage." Sigma responded. "The physical fighter has not been constructed yet, and will-"

"Shut down database." Axios said from across the room.

The files on the _Raven_ disappeared and Sigma fell silent. "Keeping more secrets?" Cyrus asked.

"I have my fair share." Axios responded. "And if you wanted to save yourself trouble, you'll keep your nose out of my files."

Cyrus ignored Axios's warning and noticed a pair of files remain floating over the holotable. "Crimson Star and All Father?" He asked.

"I will open these files." Sigma said.

As the two files opened, Cyrus quickly saw new images and descriptions appear before him. He saw the crests of both the Crimson Organization and the Children of Red, and the data he read put a tremendous sensation of nervousness into his system. He read up on fleet sizes, a brief dossier on the Crimson Star and the All Father, known records of warfare from the Crimson Organization, and past connections with the old Black Suns group. "What…?" He thought. "Is… this?!"

Axios slammed his fist on the edge of the holotable and all files had been locked. Everything disappeared before Cyrus and he stared into Axios's angry gaze. "What did I just see?" Cyrus asked. "What were those two factions? Are you involved with these guys?"

Axios locked the holotable and didn't respond to Cyrus. He felt a small sense of exposure as Cyrus actually got to those files, and he didn't know what to tell him. "Ever since Cornerian R&D finished up a prototype mega gate in Sector X and linked it with a new star system, I've been seeing an increase of strange activity happening in Lylat." He said. "Ships with those two crests have been lurking about, spying and assaulting points of interest within Lylat. Based on my knowledge, I think those two factions are plotting an invasion."

A line had snapped within the back of Cyrus's mind as he had an epiphany. "You…" He said. "Rebuilding the Black Suns… That's not because you wanted to remake them on a whim. You're trying to stop an invasion. You want to go toe to toe with these two factions, and leave the Cornerian military out of it."

Hearing his plan recited to him word for word brought a chill up and down Axios's spine. "The people of Lylat have had enough." He said to Cyrus. "Ever since Fox was a teen, he had been sent to the front lines to stop one enemy after another. He's forty now, and he continues the fight to this day."

"What the deal with you and Fox anyways?" Cyrus asked. "Why go through all this trouble for him? What's he to you?"

Axios stood tall and looked Cyrus dead in the eye. "He… gave me something to believe in." He said. "He gave me something to fight for. Most importantly, he gave me the second chance that led to my redemption. Fox is ten times the man I'll ever be, and the debt I owe him can never be repaid. I do this because it's the right thing to do. It's what he would do."

"Well that's touching. But don't forget who you're currently helping."

Axios pressed a set of buttons on the edge of his holotable and the image of Sector X appeared. "Then let's come up with a plan." He said.


	9. The Hunt Begins

_After a very, very long hiatus in writing… I'm back. I apologize to my original readers for the delay, but i needed to do some soul searching and reevaluation of my free time and hobbies. With that aside, i have finally returned to my hobby of writing and looking forward on publishing once again. Expect more updates in the coming weeks!_

 _Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

The Hunt Begins

~After Axios and Cyrus formed their plan to attack the Hive HQ in Sector X, they took the night to rest within the mountain base. As morning came upon Macbeth, Cyrus and Axios prepared themselves for the mission to come. They readied their gear, climbed into their fighters, and exited the mountain base. The two of them quickly breached the atmosphere, and they both plotted their hyperspace jumps towards Sector X. As their ships came to a stop in the outer orbit of Macbeth, Cyrus felt a sense of doubt enter his system. "So, you sure Star Fox is on board with the plan?" He asked Axios.

Within the _Archangel_ , Axios worked with his console and seven new contacts appeared on his HUD. "I'm calling up the other seven Black Suns fighters." He said. "Sigma will control them remotely from the A.I. core in my fighter. Considering I don't have seven other pilots. I'll have them-"

"You even hear my question?!" Cyrus angrily interrupted. "Are you sure Star Fox is ready?"

"They'll be there. Remember, the first part of the plan requires us to be there first. Got it?"

"How soon will they arrive? My sister's life is on the line too. I-"

"Cyrus just shut up and make your jump."

Cyrus watched the _Archangel_ disappear into hyperspace. Shortly after he jumped, he noticed the other seven Black Sun fighters make their hyperspace jump as well. "This had better go smoothly." He thought. Cyrus pressed a series of buttons on his console and his fighter shot out into hyperspace.

Time passed, and the nine fighters exited their hyperspace jumps and approached the outer edge of Sector X. As they arrived, they noticed a decent amount of fleet traffic passing through the region. Colonial convoys and mass numbers of frigates passed by and formed a large traffic grid. Cyrus, Axios, and the rest of the Black Suns fighters flew through the traffic towards their destination. However, Cyrus continued to grow more nervous. "How has no one recognized us yet?" He asked.

"For this mission, I've set up a scrambler on our fighters." Axios responded. "Any ship that tries to scan our fighters will only get false readings. It'll keep our cover unless someone gets a visual recognition. At the speed we're moving, and the fact that our ships are black; that's unlikely to happen."

Cyrus looked about his surroundings as his nervousness continued to grow. He gripped his flight controls tighter and tighter as the moments passed by, and the mission had only just begun. After a few minutes of flying, he and the Black Sun fighters arrived at a waypoint. A small transit station floated within a region of the traffic grid, and various ships came and went from its docks. "Make the turn." Axios said into his communicator. "Bearing one-one-five. We're looking for Nexus Station."

The nine fighter squadron deviated to the side with the _Archangel_ at the head. They followed the flow of traffic for a brief minute before leaving the flow to cut across the grid. Their fighters flew beneath the grid towards their next waypoint, and as they neared their final destination Cyrus felt a moment of reprieve. "We're going to save her." He thought. "After all this time, we're finally going to save her." He looked to his sides at the Black Suns fighters near him and he smiled. "Amazing what an A.I. can do to remote pilot these things." He said.

"I doesn't come freely." Axios responded. "Sigma's A.I. core is in my fighter, and he's using a lot of my fighter's power to control these guys. He'll help us fight, but the tradeoff is that these fighters can't use their combat mods."

"But back at Macbeth?"

"That was different. Sigma's core was in the mountain base where he had the processing power capable to use the fighters to their full potential. Out here, if he did that, he'd burn through the _Archangel_ 's power cells and I'd be a drifting piece of scrap metal."

"Geez…"

"Look sharp. Nexus Station is in view."

Cyrus peered through his cockpit windshield and laid his eyes upon the massive cylindrical station floating before him. Four large rings encircled the station from top to bottom, and a large dome like structure rested at the top. "There it is." He said over the communicator.

Axios pressed a series of buttons on his console and he readied the _Archangel_ 's weapon systems. He took a deep breath and adjusted his grips on his flight controls. "Cyrus, you're up." He said into his communicator.

Cyrus readied his weapon systems and sped towards the side of the _Archangel_. "Ok." He said. "The Hive HQ is located at the top most point of the station. They have their own docking bay, but it's heavily defended."

"Sigma, run a scan." Axios said. "And ready weapons on the other fighters. We're going to hit the docking bay and force our way inside."

Cyrus took one last moment to adjust himself in his seat, and he breathed deeply to calm his nerves. "Don't die on me Axios." He said.

The nine fighters neared the station's upper ring and approached the docking bay. Within the docking bay control room, a crewman noticed nine new contacts and opened a radio channel. "Unidentified craft…" He said in a low tone voice. "You are in proximity of a private docking bay. State your purpose."

Cyrus and Axios sat silent within their fighters and continued to approach the station. Their speed gradually grew, and they targeted several turrets near the docking bay. "Unidentified craft." The crewman called out again. "You are nearing a restricted zone of space. Withdraw immediately, or you will be fired upon."

"Tell King that Cyrus send his regards." Axios responded.

The nine fighters opened fire upon the docking bay entrance and quickly destroyed the first set of defensive turrets. Seeing now that an attack was underway, nearly a dozen fighters quickly flew out of the docking bay and an alarm sounded off within the facility. Cyrus noticed the first wave of fighters leave the docking bay and he quickly veered to the side to reposition his fighter. "That got their attention!" He called out.

Axios started a countdown timer on his HUD and tightened his grip on his flight controls. "We're on a clock now!" He called out. "I set the beacon. We have twenty minutes until Star Fox arrives with the Cornerian military. After that, I'm pulling the Black Sun fighters out and you won't have my support any longer."

"Then let's hurry up with these fighters and get this done."

Cyrus pressed his foot hard onto his booster pedal and quickly chased down his targets. He felt adrenaline race through his system as he shot down fighter after fighter. The thought of being reunited with his sister drove him to his limits, and he pushed his fighter farther than he had ever pushed it before. Upon clearing out the first wave of fighters, Cyrus looked at a countdown timer on his HUD and noticed that he had seventeen minutes left. He looked at the docking bay and noticed a break in the enemy fire. "I'm going in." He said to Axios. "Cover my run."

"I'm right behind you." Axios responded.

Cyrus led a charge straight into the docking bay. The nine fighters quickly flew through the bay and into the station's first hangar. They noticed several dozen more enemy fighters still docked on the ground before them. Cyrus and Axios targeted the docked fighters and let laser fire rain down onto the hangar floor below.

Their assault did not go unnoticed however. Within the Hive HQ, King stood near a terminal and watched the chaos unfold through the stations security feed. His fists tightened and his anger climbed. He did not anticipate a direct assault on his organization, and the losses he had just sustained triggered his rage. "What do we have on those fighters?" He asked.

A Hive agent approached him from behind and stood tall. "Our records show that the eight black ships are those of the Black Suns." Responded the agent. "They were destroyed some time ago, but it would seem that a surviving Black Suns enforcer has reconstructed them."

King looked more closely through the monitor and recognized the _Seeker_. He brought his hand to his chin and thought about the information he just obtained. He felt a cold chill run up and down his spine, and his thoughts raced within his mind. "It's Cyrus." He said to his agent. "I want all of our defenses online within the station. Close all the streets, and fortify the entrance."

"Yes sir." Responded the agent. The few agents within the room quickly left and King continued to stand by his terminal. King thought about why Cyrus would attack him head on in such a fashion, but after taking the time to continue thinking it hit him.

King left the main room of the HQ and walked into a short hall way. Upon reaching the other side, he entered a prison block area. He walked past several cells before stopping outside one in the center. He snapped his fingers and the lights flickered on before him to reveal a beaten fox with her arms chained up against the wall above her. Her legs rested against the ground and her hair hung over her scarred and beaten face. "So…" He said to the fox. "He's come for you."

The fox did not respond as the sounds of King's words were muffled to her senses. "Did you hear me Kaitlyn?" King asked trying again to obtain her attention. "Your brother is here. Leading an assault on my station."

Kaitlyn slowly lifted her head and looked up at King. "Wh- what?" She softly asked. "Cyrus…? Is here?"

"That's right." King opened her cell and looked down on her. "Your little, shit, brother is coming for you. He's already blown up me first line of defenses, and I don't plan on forgiving him for this." He approached her squatted down to look into her eyes. "You know what this means? Don't you?"

Kaitlyn returned King's gaze with one of anger. She felt her pulse quicken and she shook the hairs from her face. King looked clearly at a scar running through her eye across her face down to her cheek. A swollen black eye impeded her vision on her other eye, but King could see her anger giving her newfound strength. "We had a deal…" She said. "You… would leave him alone."

"And I honored that." King responded. "But it seems he has taken matters into his own hands now, and I have no choice but to retaliate." King stood before Kaitlyn and reached for the lock that held her chains in place. He undid the lock and Kaitlyn's arms fell as well as the chain. King reached down and grabbed the chain and pulled Kaitlyn by it towards the door to her cell, dragging Kaitlyn's body in the process. "I had almost forgotten."

King looked down on Kaitlyn's beaten body and noticed that she could not move her legs. "After you failed that assignment I had given you…" He said. "You lost the use of your legs."

"You set me up for failure…" Kaitlyn responded. "You're a complete piece of trash. A waste of the air you breathe. You, I hope that you-"

King stomped his boot into Kaitlyn's gut and silenced her. He grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her up from the ground over his shoulder. She screamed from the pain of the sudden movement as she still retained her sense of touch from the waist down. "I know your condition." King said as he carried Kaitlyn out of the cell. "You can't walk. Doesn't mean you can't feel the pain."

Kaitlyn did not have the strength to struggle out of King's grip. Her body ached from being tortured and malnourished. Her senses had not fully returned to her, but her mind was completely aware of the situation. As her vision blurred once more, her thoughts turned towards her brother. "Cyrus…" She murmured under her breath. "Be careful… please…"

Outside of the Hive HQ, Axios and Cyrus had already laid waste to the inner streets of Nexus Station. The nine fighters made their way to the upper level of the station, and they had the Hive HQ in sight. However, Cyrus looked at his clock and realized that he only had ten more minutes before Star Fox would arrive. "We're running out of time!" He called out.

The _Seeker_ and the _Archangel_ cleared away the street defenses and flew down towards the streets to begin a landing. As Axios and Cyrus quickly dismounted their fighters, Sigma continued to remote pilot the other seven. "Sigma, patrol the area." Axios said upon leaving his cockpit. "No one gets in and out of the perimeter."

"Understood, Axios." Sigma responded.

Axios had armed himself with a blaster and his combat knife while Cyrus armed himself with his sniper rifle, blasters, and short blade. The two quickly ran through a street block towards the entrance of the Hive HQ. However, laser fire quickly came from the HQ entrance and the two took cover behind a ruined hover car. Axios fired a pair of blaster rounds towards the gunman, but could not hit his target. He looked once more at his clock and shook his head. "Nine minutes." He said to Cyrus. "After that, you're going to be on your own."

Cyrus quickly located a pair of gunman on the second story windows of the HQ and aimed his rifle. He fired two quick shots to kill them both, and the opposing laser fire had ceased. "Then let's get moving." He said to Axios.

The two quickly moved through a courtyard to get to the entrance of the Hive HQ. They kicked through the doors of the main entrance and were greeted with more laser fire from the inside. They rushed towards the sides of the entry hallways and took cover around the corner. A long hall separated them from their assailants, and they exchanged laser fire.

The firefight lasted for a brief minute as Axios and Cyrus's marksmanship far outclassed the Hive gunmen. They pushed through the entry hall and took cover by a set of double doors. As the two kicked the doors open, more laser fire came from the main command room on the other side. However, the laser fire ceased after a moment and Cyrus and Axios both took aim.

There, half a dozen gunmen, and King waited for them. Cyrus and Axios looked upon him aiming a blaster to the back of Kaitlyn's head as she rested on the ground. The sight of his wounded sister holding herself up with only her arms nearly drove Cyrus into a state of shock. Furthermore, he had never felt his trigger finger become as heavy as he aimed his rifle directly at King. "And so, the prodigal son returns." King said. "I see you know how to make an entrance."


	10. Checkmate

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Checkmate

~The tension within the room was unlike anything Cyrus and Axios had felt before. The air they breathed felt heavy under the pressure they felt. Furthermore, they both knew they were running out of time. King had brought their plan to a halt, and Cyrus and Axios struggled to improvise. "I take it this is the bitch you're looking for?" King asked as he aimed his blaster at Kaitlyn's head.

Even though Axios had no true ties to his current mission, he felt his stress and anxiety climb. As sweat fell unto his brow from behind his mask, he glanced down at his wrist gauntlet to see his clock. "Cyrus, six minutes…" Axios murmured to Cyrus. "What's the plan?!"

"I'm working on it." Cyrus hastily murmured back.

"You two are awfully quiet given your current situation." King called out to them. "So let me incentivize you. Drop your weapons, or I kill her."

"Cyrus, we put down our guns and we're not walking out of this." Axios softly said as he continued to aim at King.

In the heat of a moment, Cyrus struggled to form a plan. Inside, his mind raced and his pulse climbed. He looked at his clock once more and already a minute had passed. Whether it was King's diminishing patience or the seconds felt shorter than before, Cyrus set continued to struggle. "All right." He called out to King.

Cyrus slowly lowered his sniper rifle and lowered himself to a squat. He rested his rifle on the ground and pulled out his blasters to do the same. "Cyrus?" Axios asked as he continued to aim at King.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Cyrus murmured to Axios. "But we need a plan."

"God damn it."

As he set his weapons down, King let loose a sly grin. He then turned his attention to the masked Axios and looked upon the Black Sun crest upon his mask. "That goes for you too." He said to Axios. "Weapons, down. Or I kill the girl."

Axios continued to lock gazes with King, but he did not lower his weapon. "I'm curious." King said to him. "You survived your own faction's destruction. You had pure freedom, a chance to start over. Tell me, what drives an enforcer like yourself to work with the filth that now lowered himself next to you?"

Axios peeked down at Cyrus once more as he rested his short blade on the ground. Since he hadn't come up with a plan, Axios started to think in his stead. "Come to think of it." Axios said to King. "I'm not really sure myself. Could be the fun, maybe even to try something new. But, if he hadn't paid me a very modest sum of credits, I don't think I'd be here."

Axios's response intrigued King, and he raised an eyebrow as his interest in Axios slowly grew. "Money you say?" He said. "It's quite a force to be reckoned with. Drives people to do the unthinkable. I've noticed you've reconstructed your fighters, and I find that quite impressive. With the right resources, you could own Lylat."

"I'd be lying if it said it hasn't already crossed my mind."

"Then perhaps, you and I can assist one another."

Cyrus looked up at Axios but Axios did not look back down. "Axios, what are you doing?" He softly asked.

"Spit it out then." Axios responded to King.

"Whatever he's paying you to dismantle my organization, I'll double it if you shoot him in the head right now." King said.

At this moment, Axios had formed a plan. He looked down at Cyrus and whispered a private message into his mask. As Cyrus received the message, his eyes widened and his heart stopped. Before he realized it, he gazed down the barrel of Axios's blaster. "It's a deal." He said.

Axios pulled the trigger and sent a blaster round directly into Cyrus's eye. As Cyrus's mask fell from his face, blood flew from the entry wound and Cyrus fell backwards onto the ground motionless. The sight of the execution sent Kaitlyn into a shock, and she screamed for Cyrus. At the same time, King smiled at the sight, and all of the gunmen within the room lowered their weapons.

Kaitlyn, using her arms, slowly dragged herself to Cyrus. Her tears quickly fell onto her cheeks, and King let her crawl. Feeling a sense of fulfillment, King holstered his blaster and took a deep breath. He smiled at Axios, and Axios simply stood over Cyrus's corpse.

As Kaitlyn neared Cyrus, Axios stepped to the side while still carrying his blaster in hand. He walked past Kaitlyn who continued to crawl to her younger brother, and he approached King. A gunman aimed his rifle at Axios but King placed his hand on top of the weapon and lowered it. "That, is quite the display." He said to Axios. "I think you'll do nicely with the funds I'm willing to transfer."

As Axios and King conversed, Kaitlyn reached Cyrus's corpse and wrapped her arms around him. Cyrus's head rested with his wounded side down, and his eyes were closed. Kaitlyn called his name, but he would not respond. She buried his face in his chest and let her tears continue to flow from her face. She gripped Cyrus's hand tightly, and continued to sob on his chest.

However, she felt a grip from Cyrus's hands. She became confused, and noticed Cyrus's hand actually closing over hers. As she rested her head on his chest, he could still hear his pulse. His heart beat was strong and steady, and his body still felt warm. To her shock, she heard a whisper. "Mask." Cyrus softly murmured.

Kaitlyn looked into Cyrus mask on the ground and quickly read the message that was sent to him. "Turn your head the moment I pull the trigger." Axios's message said. "Play dead until Star Fox arrives, then unleash hell."

A line quickly snapped within Kaitlyn's mind, and she quickly caught onto the plan. She looked around and noticed both of Cyrus's blasters lying near him, and his wrist clock's timer had thirty seconds left. She briefly looked back at King conversing with Axios and studied the room. When she obtained her targets, she rested her head back on top of Cyrus's chest.

"So tell me." King said to Axios. "As a man motivated by money, what kind of arrangement can we make to secure your services?"

"I was promised double of what I was going to make from this job." Axios responded. "Cyrus was offering the entirety of his bank. That was four hundred, fifty thousand."

"You and him put a number on my station, one that I'm not going to just overlook. That will be coming out of what I promised you. However, I am willing to pay you even more, if you're willing to work for Hive."

Axios looked down at his wrist gauntlet and noticed his timer hit zero. "You know." He said. "It's tempting, but I think I'll pass."

Immediately after his words, alarms sounded off in the main room and an explosion went off on the exterior of the station. King and company looked towards their holotable and noticed the _Great Fox_ , along with a Cornerian fleet. "Star Fox?!" King exclaimed.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Cyrus quickly grabbed one of his blasters and Kaitlyn grabbed the other. The two of them pointed their blasters at the gunmen within the room and quickly shot them down. Axios shot down a pair of gunmen and quickly pointed his blaster at King. Seeing Cyrus rise from the ground shocked King, and he held his hands out to the sides as Kaitlyn, Cyrus, and Axios pointed their blasters at him. "How?!" King asked.

Cyrus stood and walked towards King. As he came closer, King could see Cyrus holding his hand over his eye. Upon removing his hand, he revealed to King that Axios's blaster round grazed his eye and wounded the side of the eye socket. However, the blaster round did not go through his skull, and thus avoided killing him. "You owe me an eye you bastard." Cyrus said to Axios while in pain.

"I'll make it up to you." Axios responded. "We're out of time, Star Fox is here and I'm leaving. What you do with him is on you."

Axios lowered his blaster and turned to leave the room. Kaitlyn and Cyrus continued to point their blasters at King. Seeing that he had been played, he let loose a smug grin. "Clever." He said. "I never thought you'd sacrifice an eye for the sake of your sister."

"I'd give my life for my sister." Cyrus responded. "And now, I'm taking back what's mine."

"Do it quickly then. I haven't got all day."

Cyrus aimed his blaster directly at King's head. His finger felt heavy on the trigger, and he wanted so desperately to end King's life right there. However, the chaos outside continued on, and he could see Star Fox approaching the station from the holotable. Realizing that he needed to escape, He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves. "No." Cyrus said as he lowered his blaster. "You won't get off that easy."

Instead of shooting him in the head, Cyrus shot King in both of his legs. As King fell to the floor with a cry of pain, he reached towards King's side and took away his blaster. He ran back towards Kaitlyn and grabbed his weapons and mask. He lifted her in his arms and prepared to leave the HQ. "You're weak!" King called out as he struggle to crawl.

Cyrus turned his attention back towards King while holding Kaitlyn in his arms. "Here, you have your chance of revenge." King called out. "And you don't have the stomach to pull the trigger."

Cyrus didn't respond to King, and instead turned and left the room. As he left the HQ, King slowly let out a laugh. "Your time will come…" He chuckled. "Your time will come… YOUR TIME WILL COME!"

Cyrus quickly made his way back to his fighter. As he did, he noticed Cornerian fighters within the station battling the remaining of the Hive forces. He quickly loaded Kaitlyn in the back of his fighter, and strapped himself in. The _Seeker_ took off from the ground and quickly made its way towards the station exit.

Upon leaving the station, Cyrus got a clear view of the Cornerian fleet surrounding the sector. He put his fighter into a dive and sped away from the station. However, he noticed a lock on warning appear on his HUD. He looked over his shoulder and could see the _Skyclaw_ on his tail. Realizing that it wasn't Fox, Cyrus quickly banked to the side to evade his pursuer.

Within the _Skyclaw_ , Falco struggled to maintain the lock on. "This guy is tricky!" He called out. "I can't get a good lock on him!"

"Falco, who are you targeting?" Fox called out over the communicator.

"A run away! This guy just flew out of the station in a hurry and is trying to bail! I won't let him!"

Fox quickly sped the _Arwing II_ towards the _Skyclaw_ and formed up on Falco's wing. The moment he recognized the _Seeker_ , Fox flew into Falco's flight path. As Falco was cut off, he broke off his assault on the _Seeker_ and gave Cyrus his window. "Fox?!" Falco called out. "Watch where you're flying!"

Seeing the _Skyclaw_ distracted, Cyrus pointed his fighter towards MacBeth. He quickly pressed a few buttons and activated his hyper drive. Within moments, the _Seeker_ shot out into hyperspace and disappeared from the system. Seeing the fighter escape, Fox let loose a faint smile. "You're welcome." He thought.

Within the hue of hyperspace, Cyrus ripped off a long piece of his sleeve and wrapped it around his head to cover his wounded eye. Afterwards, he turned his head back to face his sister. "Kait…" He said. "You ok?"

Kaitlyn reached for Cyrus's face and quickly delivered a punch across his cheek. "You idiot!" She yelled.

"Hey!" Cyrus said as he massaged his jaw. "What was that for?!"

"What you just pulled off was the single most idiotic thing I've seen you do yet! Look at you! You're a mess! You lost an eye! You're-"

"You're tearing up sis."

Kaitlyn silenced herself when she realized her eyes were watering. Despite her history of being Cyrus's protective older sister, and her tough girl persona; her heart longed to see Cyrus once more. This was the first time she ever felt helpless, and being saved by her brother was something she hadn't known before. On top of that, it was the first time she had seen Cyrus in years. She gave in to her emotions, and she reached forward and wrapped her arms around Cyrus's shoulders to embrace him.

For the time in hyperspace, they held each other in warm embrace. The moment moved them both to tears, and they knew that their long standing nightmare would be over. After some time in hyperspace, the ship exited its jump and arrived in MacBeth orbit.

Cyrus brought his attention back to the front and he gripped his flight controls. As he neared the planet, a call came to him. "You made it out." Axios said as a holographic image of him appeared on the HUD. "I notice you have Kait in the back with you."

"Star Fox took care of the rest." Cyrus responded.

"What happened to King?"

"I put two into his legs and let the Cornerians handle the rest."

"Hmph, bold move. I would have killed him right then and there."

"I wanted to. Honestly can't explain why I didn't."

"Let's pray that decision doesn't come back to bite you. I'm opening the launch tunnel doors. I'll have Sigma take a look at Kait."

"Copy that. See you in a few."

It wouldn't be long until Cyrus brought the _Seeker_ through the atmosphere and into the hidden mountain base. After landing on the docking platform, an elevator carried the fighter down to the main level where Axios was waiting. With his help they lowered Kaitlyn from the cockpit and brought her to the medical bay. They placed her within Axios's stasis chamber, and Sigma examined the damage. "Give us the bad news, Sigma." Axios said.

"Analyzing…" Sigma responded. "Physical trauma within the skull, cracked 4th, 5th, and 6th rib, extreme case of dehydration and malnourishment, muscle density degradation, sprains in the wrists and torn ligaments within the shoulder; in short, she's been kept alive on will power alone."

"She wasn't able to walk." Cyrus said. "Yet she told me she could still feel pain. What happened to the use of her legs?"

"Analyzing… Both knee joints have been broken and untended to. Furthermore, the lower three discs of her lumbar vertebrae have been cracked."

Hearing those words caused Axios to lowers his head and put his hands on his hips. At the same time Cyrus looked up in disbelief and let loose a long sigh. "Geez…" He softly said. "Damn it…"

"However, there is something I have that you would call 'good news'." Sigma added.

"What is it?" Cyrus asked.

"Though the vertebrae discs have been cracked, the spinal cord hasn't been severed, thus resulting in a spinal injury. The fact that she claimed she can still feel her legs is a sign that recovery is possible."

"Meaning she'll walk again?"

"Based on my diagnosis, she will eventually regain her ability to walk. However, a spinal injury is long lasting, and the recovery will take a very long time. At least a year or two depending on her resolve. It is unlikely she'll ever resume her duties as a bounty hunter. I can use the mechanical limbs within the med bay and perform surgery. She'll spend time within a wheel chair, and her recovery afterwards will be very slow."

"Don't forget, Sigma." Axios added. "She's not the only patient." Axios looked to his side and noticed that Cyrus had wrapped a torn sleeve around his head over his wounded eye. "Leave her in stasis, and mop up Cyrus's eye. Take care of her when you're done with him."

Axios turned to leave the med bay and Cyrus stood still. "Axios." Cyrus said.

Axios stopped before he left and he turned. "If you're going to say thank you, don't." He said to Cyrus. "I'm not used to being thanked for anything these days."

"Then I owe you. You've done more for me than anyone else since I've lost my sister."

Axios smiled and took a deep breath. "I'll transfer some of my reserve credits into an account of your choosing." He said.

"What ever happened to convincing me to work with you?" Cyrus asked.

"I shot you in the face. On top of that, I managed the mission poorly. I thought I was ready to lead a group, but I still have a ways to go."

"So you're just sending me off?"

Axios stood silent for a moment. "I helped you rescue your sister." He said. "I'll have Sigma perform surgery to help begin her recovery, and I'm transferring you enough to start over. In exchange, there will come a time where I'll call on you to work with me once more. When that time comes, I expect you to return the favor. That a deal?"

Cyrus took a deep breath and smiled. He looked to his side and gazed upon his sister resting within the stasis tube. As he looked back at Axios, he nodded his head. "Deal."


	11. Hunting the Hunter

_Leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Hunting the Hunter

 _Time would pass since they last spoke. New conflicts emerged, and were resolved. The torch had been passed, a son led a defense, and a great enemy had been defeated. But, a promise was made, and not forgotten._

9 years later…

~A year after the end of the C.O.R. war, Axios formally enlisted into the Cornerian military. Due to his contributions over the years, and his close ties to Star Fox and the military leadership; Axios obtained the rank of Fleet Commander; just underneath the rank of High Commander which preceded Military General. However, Axios would not be a commander of a renowned military fleet.

After consulting with the military leadership, Axios would be the commander of the newly founded Black Mist Coalition, the first Cornerian black ops division. The soldiers within the Black Mist Coalition would receive advanced training, and newly acquired science would allow them to be augmented with implants to enhance their strength and agility. While the process was still within its planning stage, Axios acted closely with the Cornerian general in the meantime.

Within the Cornerian capital ship, the _Carbon_ , Axios, along with two of his lieutenants, Joey Todd and Isaac Doran, stood alongside the newly inaugurated general Alexander Toran. The _Carbon_ and its fleet had just entered the Philat region through the Lylat mega gate. As the ships proceeded through the gate, the crew noticed newly constructed mobile defense platforms aiming canons at the incoming fleet. "Cornerian ships, this is Philat Defense Platform 2." A platform commander said over the radio. "Provide clearance code for passage."

Toran stepped towards a terminal and rested his hand on a switch. "General Toran, Alexander, kilo five five two alpha niner." Toran said into the communicator.

"Copy that General." The platform commander responded. "Be advised, Philat is still in a state of political instability. Some regions have been labeled as hot zones meaning there's still conflict in the area. Best to avoid those regions if you don't want a civil war."

"Thank you commander. My fleet will pass through now."

As the ships of the 1st Excelsior fleet passed the defense platforms, Toran turned his attention to Axios, Isaac, and Joey. "Officially, we're here on a diplomatic mission of security." Toran said to the three of them. "Unofficially, I want to understand more clearly what is it you have me doing in this system."

Axios approached Toran's side and stepped close. "When we talked about forming the Black Mist Coalition, you said I could recruit my own group of individuals." He softly responded to Toran. "One of those men whom I planned on recruiting is hiding out here in Philat. He survived the war, I tracked him to a planet called Lumia. That's where we're going."

"I already have more than a thousand volunteers for your little black ops vision, Commander. Disciplined officers of the highest quality. Why are you so fixated on this one man? This renegade?"

"I know his abilities, and he has his resources. But on top of that, he owes me."

Toran let loose a sigh and turned his attention towards the front of the bridge. "Helmsman, set course for Lumia. I wanted us there ten minutes ago." Toran said.

"Yes sir!" A crewman responded. "All stations, prepare for hyperspace jump. Coordinates two two five six five oh niner. Destination, Lumia."

Axios stood next to Toran and crossed his arms. They watched as the blue hue of hyperspace surrounded the bridge windows. Within moments, the entire fleet jumped into hyperspace. As they traveled, Toran pressed a series of buttons on a nearby terminal and a holographic dossier appeared. As Toran read the file, Axios caught a glimpse of the data. "Reading up on his dossier?" He asked Toran.

"Name, Cyrus Evergreen." Toran responded. "Profile: Black furred fox with missing right eye wearing a black and white mask. Profession: Bounty hunter. Profile description: Target has had a history serving the fallen Hive organization as a bounty hunter. He ranked amongst their elite, and is to be avoided pending further action." Toran turned his head back towards Axios. "Are you sure this is a man you want within your unit?"

"His profile lists him as a renegade killer, but he's also one of the most loyal men you'll ever know."

Toran pressed another button and an image of a black and white masked fox appeared. Axios noticed only a single black eye socket on the white half of the mask, and his thoughts turned towards Cyrus's wounded eye. "He certainly looks loyal." Toran sarcastically said. "And quite friendly too."

"Alex, just trust me." Axios responded. "He's worth the trip."

"I hope you're right."

Moments after, the Cornerian ships exited hyperspace and they looked down upon a grey surfaced planet. "Sir, there is a planetary advisory alert." A crewman said. "We're on the edge of the habitable zone of the Philat star meaning the planet's surface temperature is colder than that of Fichina. The colonies are utilizing climate control towers to negate this effect, and thus created safe zones. However, even within the safe zones the temperature drops to 30 degrees below centigrade. Cold gear is advised."

"Understood, lieutenant." Toran responded. "Axios, you three are up. Shuttle transport is waiting for you in hanger two. You have forty eight hours to find this man, and bring him in. I need to move the fleet in the meantime to keep up appearances."

"Copy that." Axios responded. "Joey, Isaac, let's roll."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?!" An A.I. called out.

Axios quickly looked at Toran's terminal and noticed a small, three tailed fox standing above it. "You're taking me with too, right?" Sigma asked.

Axios chuckled and approached the terminal. He held out his wrist gauntlet and Sigma reached out for it. Within moments, Sigma transferred himself into Axios's wrist gauntlet and the indicator turned blue. "All right, let's do this!" Sigma exclaimed. "Woo!"

Toran lowered his head and smiled, and at the same time nodded his head. "Forty eight hours." He said to Axios. "Starting now."

Axios nodded his head and the trio left the bridge. They went towards a nearby armory and collected their weapons and gear. As they prepped themselves for the cold, Isaac turned to Axios. "So what's the deal with this guy?" He asked upon putting on a tight thermal liner. "You never mentioned him to us during the Crimson war, during the C.O.R. war… what makes this guy so special?"

"He's someone I helped out about nine years ago." Axios responded upon loading his blaster. "He owes me a favor for saving a family member. I'm calling it in."

"You expect this guy to work for you full time based on a favor?" Joey asked. "That's pushing it boss."

"It might be, but knowing him he'll come through. Let's get moving, we're on a clock."

The trio left the armory and quickly made their way to the capital ship's hangar. They boarded a shuttle and Axios sat himself within the pilot's seat. Isaac joined him as his copilot and Joey sat within the main cabin.

The shuttle took off and quickly made its way through the hangar shields. As it sped away from the _Carbon_ , the three of them watched the fleet disappear into another hyperspace jump away from the system. "We're on our own now boss." Joey said.

"Copy that." Axios responded. "Toran's taking the fleet to a planet called Synera. Last I read, it's where Philat's political leaders are designating the capital world."

"Think a fleet is really necessary over there?" Isaac asked. "Is the political situation really that bad right now?"

"It is, but eyes forward. We're coming up on Lumia. Sigma, find a place where we can land this bucket. Primarily within grid two-zero-one."

"Scanning." Sigma responded. "Well, I've got no four star hotels for star ports, but I got a few located."

"Hit me up, Sigma." Isaac said.

Isaac and Axios noticed three new landing sites appear on the HUD of their shuttle. "Hellbig, Trenn, and Arcer." Isaac said to Axios. "Three larger cities where we can set her down corresponding to the grid you gave us."

"We'll start with Arcer." Axios said. "Sigma, give me a route"

"You got it." Sigma responded.

"Why Arcer?" Isaac asked.

"Because if my information is good, and it normally is. We're going to find someone in Arcer who can lead us to Cyrus."

A flight path appeared on the HUD of the shuttle and Axios followed it all the way to the planet's surface. Time would pass, and the ship would eventually make a landing within a local star port within the city. As they touched down within a circular pit, Axios powered down the ship and the trio made their way off. They were greeted by an elderly rat wearing thick clothing. "Howdy there strangers." The rat said. "Names Linas. What brings y'all 'round 'ere?"

"We're visiting a friend." Axios responded. "Heard there was a good tavern around here for a drink too."

Linas looked up and scratched his chin. "Well there's that tavern down the road 'ere." He said. "Them blacks are the cream of the crop if ya catchin' my drift."

"Thanks for the tip." Axios reached into the back of his jacket and pulled out a handful of credits. "For our ship."

Linas took the money and tipped his hat. "She'll be ripe and ready by the time ya boys get back 'ere."

Axios nodded his head and the trio left the docking pit. As they left the star port, a cold breeze hit them and Axios pulled out a winter hat to put on his head. "Damn it." He said. "The lieutenant wasn't kidding."

"Our thermal liners are struggling to keep up." Isaac said as he looked at his wrist gauntlet. "Best we stay in the safe zones and try to get out of the cold quick."

"So where to?" Joey asked.

"The tavern." Axios responded. "Based on my intel, our first point of contact it there."

The trio made their way down the street and eventually found the tavern on the side. They walked inside and a large crowd of people gathered at the many tables enjoying their drinks. As the trio made their way to the front, the many people in the bar were giving them strange looks.

Axios sat at the bar stool and Joey and Isaac stood by his side. A large brown boar wiped a glass mug clean and smiled at his own reflection from the glass. "I'll be right witcha in a bit, kids." The boar said. "In the meantime, think on what it is ya want from the menu there."

"I'm not looking for a drink." Axios responded. "I'm looking for someone."

The boar set his mug down and turned to face Axios. He paused for a moment upon looking at Axios's face, and he felt his pulse quicken. Realizing this, Axios could see that the boar was looking at him with a familiar feeling. He became confused as Axios did not know the boar, but the boar appeared to know him. "Well, who is it that you lookin' for?" the boar asked.

"Before I get there, do we know each other?" Axios asked.

"Nope, but I know that look. Ol' friend of mine had that same look on his face." The boar reached out his hand. "Name's Paolo."

Axios reached out and took Paolo's hand. "Name's Axios." He responded. "The two behind me are Isaac, and Joey."

Paolo's heart stopped for a moment at the thought of hearing Axios's name. "Axios…?" Paolo said. "You said your name is Axios?"

At this moment, Axios locked gazes with Paolo and he could see it all. Axios realized that Paolo was familiar with him. "It's you." Axios said.

Paolo took a deep breath to calm his nerves and he sat in a stool across from Axios. "So, you is lookin' for me then eh?" He said to Axios. "Or, is it you lookin' for someone else?"

"Paolo Dumbar. You're the one I'm looking for now because there's someone else I need to find later." Axios said. "You're a former information broker for Hive. Dropped off the grid when you defected, and been running ever since. That was until two years ago when you found a nice life here in Lumia. Bartender once more, but you're still brokering information. At least, for a price."

Axios noticed Paolo look down to his side. Paolo looked upon a shotgun mounted underneath the bar counter. However, Axios was one step ahead of him. "Relax." Axios said. "I'm not here looking for trouble. I'm with the Cornerian military, and you know why I'm here."

"Ya lookin' for my kid…" Paolo said. "Ya lookin' for Cy."

"Smart man. Know where I can find him?"

Paolo took a deep breath and looked away from the shotgun. "Truth be told, you is supposed to be dead. Least, that's what Cy told me." He said. "Cy told me 'bout what ya did for 'em nine years ago. Kid still owes ya. Kid also told me that you is one of his only friends these days. Said I ought to serve ya free."

"Well I appreciate the gesture. Now, about my question?"

"Yea, yea." Paolo reached behind for his back pocket and pulled out a small PDA. He pressed a few buttons on it and Axios held out his wrist gauntlet. After a brief moment, all the data from the PDA was transferred to Axios's wrist gauntlet. "Normally I'd charge ya a hefty price for that intel there, but since Cy seems to trust ya, this one's on the house. That there is his coordinates." Paolo said. "Ya should be able to take care of the rest."

Axios nodded his head and stood up. "Hey." Paolo said as he stood. "One more thing."

"Yes?" Axios asked.

"That kid, he is like a son to me. Saved my life too when them Hive boys came after me. Helped me start over, and I owe em. So when ya find em, ya take good care of that kid and ya tell 'em that Paolo wants a visit. But if I 'ear that you screwed that kid over, I'll pump ya full of plasma. Ya 'ear?"

Axios nodded his head and reached into his jacket. He took out another handful of credits and set them on the bar counter top. "Thanks for the help." He said.

Axios, Isaac, and Joey left the tavern and found themselves within the cold city streets. "Where too now?" Joey asked.

"We're going to the mountains." Axios responded. "I've got coordinates."

The trio made their way back to the star port and met up with Linas. After a brief exchange of words, they boarded their shuttle and lifted off into the air. They flew high into the atmosphere towards a dark zone of the planet, and as they looked down they could see a sizable mountain range. "Sigma, what do you have?" Axios asked as he looked through his windshield.

"Well, we're looking at the Kendar Mountains." Sigma responded. "This place is considered a dark zone though. I'm not finding a climate control tower anywhere on scanners."

"Think maybe the pig set us up?" Joey asked.

"Unlikely." Isaac interjected. "He recognized Axios's face before they even exchanged names. I think he was being genuine."

"Regardless stay on your toes." Axios said. "Joey, I want you on the rear guns just in case."

"Roger that." Joey walked to the rear of the cabin and opened a door at the end. He lowered his head and sat within a seat surrounded by a dome. A pair of canons slowly powered up as he worked with the turret controls, and he strapped himself in. "I'm in." He said over the ship comm.

"Isaac, eyes peeled." Axios said. "I'm taking her down."


	12. Old Friends and New Beginnings

_It's been a really, really long journey in completing this short, but i'm pleased to say that its finally come to its conclusion. This will be the last chapter, but this won't be my last story. I always have another project lined up, and i hope you'll show interest in those works as you've shown an interest in this. So i thank you, the reader, for taking the time to read my stories. I thank you for taking the time to write a review, and i mean that from the bottom of my heart._

 _So, as always, leave a review if you'd like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!_

Old Friends and New Beginnings

~Axios started his decent and the shuttle gradually approached the mountains. As he neared them, new contacts appeared on his HUD. An alarm sounded off within the cockpit and the trio became alert. "Isaac, Sigma!" Axios called out. "Give me something!"

"I've got three contacts approaching fast from our starboard side." Isaac said. "Sigma?"

"They're fighters, I'm reading weapons systems powering up." Sigma quickly responded.

"I knew it!" Joey exclaimed from the back. "He set us up!"

"Joey, you are not to fire unless we're fired upon first!" Axios hastily said. "Easy on the triggers!"

The trio became alerted as a new voice spoke to them over their radio. "Unidentified craft." A low tone voice said. "You're entering Ren's territory. State your business and power down your weapon systems."

Axios pressed a series of buttons on the top of his cockpit and powered down their shuttle's weapons. Seeing this, Joey became confused within the rear turret. "Axios?" He asked.

Axios pressed another series of buttons and a holographic monitor of a black and white masked pilot appeared. Axios quickly realized that the pilot was wearing a similar mask to Cyrus, but it wasn't him. "Pilot, my name is Axios Faxton." He said to the pilot. "Not entirely sure why he's calling himself Ren, but I'm here to see your boss."

"Axios Faxton?" The pilot responded. "Is that name supposed to mean something to me?"

"I could care less if it means anything to you, but it means something to your boss. Now, let us see him."

"Don't think you can come onto our turf, and make demands! I ought to shoot you down right-"

"Jackson you brain dead idiot." Another voice interrupted. "Stand down, and escort that shuttle inside."

Recognizing the voice, Axios smiled. Moments after, a new image appeared on his HUD. A black and white masked fox appeared, and this one had a black eye socket over the white half. "I can't believe what I'm seeing." The fox said. "Axios? Is that really you? I heard you died."

"Yea well… that is a story within itself." Axios responded. "The afterlife wasn't ready for me."

"I knew you were too tough to kill. My boys will bring you in."

"Cyrus, this is new. Since when did you find followers?"

"Well, my sister had some connections. After Hive, we decided we wanted to do some good for a change. Looks like others followed our example."

"How's she doing?"

"Why don't you come inside, and we can talk about that. Oh, and Axios." Cyrus reached behind his head and undid the straps that held his mask in place. As he took it off, Axios noticed that Cyrus wore a black eye patch over his right eye. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise." Axios responded.

Time would pass, and the three fighters would escort Axios's shuttle into the lower mountains. After a brief minute of flying, Axios noticed a hidden facility down at the base of a trio of mountains. A small climate control tower was located on one of the mountain's sides, and a trio of docking platforms could be seen on the surface.

Axios lowered his shuttle down in the middle of one of the docking platforms and the platform lowered itself beneath the surface. Within moments, an exterior gate closed over the platform, and the platform came to a stop. Axios and Isaac could see numerous people walking around the platform carrying crates and working with each other. As the trio dismounted the shuttle, a pair of riflemen approached them. "Ren is waiting for you in our command center." One of the rifleman said. "Follow us."

"How long has this been here?" Isaac asked as they followed the riflemen. "This is a damned cave network"

"Not long actually." One of them responded. "These caves were a natural formation underneath the mountain range. A few years back there was a mining expedition here, but it came to a stop when the climate control tower went offline. The miners abandoned this site, and Ren repurposed it to suit our needs."

"Why are you calling him Ren?" Axios asked.

"It was a nick name we gave him. He was labeled as a renegade in the past, and some of us thought that name suited him. We just shortened it and now we all call him Ren."

Within moments, the group arrived in a large circular opening. Axios could see various terminals and stations lining the edges of the area, and in the center rested a large, brightly lit circular platform. As he looked closer, he could see Cyrus hunched over a circular holotable within the center, and he could Kaitlyn sitting in a chair beside him.

Cyrus turned his head and looked upon Axios, Isaac, and Joey. He smiled and stood tall as they approached. The trio climbed a few stairs and approached Cyrus at the table and Cyrus held his arms out. "An old friend returns." He said. "You look good for a dead man. I like the new threads."

Axios looked down upon himself and smirked at his black, Cornerian cold gear. "Comes with the new job." Axios said. "Cyrus, I want you to meet Isaac Doran, and Joey Todd. My two best men."

Cyrus stepped passed Axios and examined Isaac and Joey. "Best men?" Cyrus jokingly asked. "Axios, I can take them both with both hands tied behind my back."

Isaac took an aggressive stance towards Cyrus. "Excuse me?" He angrily asked.

Joey put a hand on Isaac's shoulder and pulled him back. "Easy man, he's just yanking your chain." He said.

"He's right you know." Cyrus said as he extended his hand. "Though I wouldn't mind putting that to the test some time."

Isaac shook Cyrus's hand and scoffed at him. "Oh I'm sure you will." He said.

Cyrus turned back towards Axios and shook his hand. "I like what you've done with the place." Axios said to Cyrus as he looked around. "And all these people, that's really something."

"That was more my doing." Kaitlyn responded.

Axios looked over Cyrus's shoulder and noticed Kaitlyn sitting within a floating chair. "I thought Sigma's surgery would have given you your legs back." He said. "What happened?"

"It did." Kaitlyn responded. "But, building an organization like this didn't come without a few road bumps. There was a pretty bad skirmish a year ago when the C.O.R. came to Philat, and I got hurt."

"She's completely paralyzed from the waist down." Cyrus added. "All the docs we took her to couldn't help, and we couldn't afford any thing high end at the time."

"Well, looks like I can help with that." Axios said as he crossed his arms. "You remember that old favor you still owe me?"

"How could I not?"

"Well, I'm here to call it in."

Cyrus became confused. "What do you need?" He asked.

"You." Axios looked around the room and gazed upon the people working within it. "All of you. After the war ended, the Cornerian military created its first black ops division. It's called the Black Mist Coalition, and I'm the commander responsible for running it. We came to Philat looking for you. I want you in my group."

Cyrus looked stunned for a moment, and choked on his words. He looked around the room and looked upon the many people inside. "You're asking to take me away from everything here that I've built?" He asked. "Kait and I worked our asses off to build this group, and even more when the C.O.R. came to our door step. I can't just abandon this to come join your little secret military boy band."

"There are perks." Isaac interjected. "Including medical care from Lithonian scientists and Trigenics, a Cornerian R&D medical company that is responsible for Axios being brought back to life. The two can get your sisters legs back."

"What's more is that Axios here has the ear of the Cornerian military general." Joey added. "Everyone you recruited here would be invited to join the coalition. They would all be given the same benefits as any member of the Cornerian military. This includes a steady income of credits, food, and a place to sleep."

Cyrus took a deep breath and looked back at his sister. He looked at Kaitlyn's hover chair and thought about her walking once more. He then looked about his people and thought about their origins. They came from being runaways, bounty hunters, people discharged from the military. When they lost their chance to do some good for their worlds, Cyrus gave them another. "I'm not sure, Axios." He said. "These people follow and trust me with their lives. Most of them aren't military to begin with. The transition could ruin them."

"They wouldn't answer to the general, or any other fleet commanders." Axios reassured. "They'd answer to you, and me." Axios walked up to Cyrus and placed a hand on his shoulder. "The C.O.R. war is over, and right now Star Fox, the Cornerian military, and the Litonian army are working together to rebuild. That means a new war is coming, one that's going to be fought in the shadows. That's where we come in. We're going to make the new world a better place to live, for everyone. If your people want to do some good in their lives, this is the opportunity to do it."

Axios took a moment and looked at Cyrus's eye patch. "On top of that, I'll throw in a new eye." He added. "I still owe you for the last one."

Cyrus chuckled and lowered his head. He took a deep breath and looked about the room. After concluding his thoughts, he turned towards Kaitlyn. "Land all of our fighters and assemble the crew." He said to her. "I've got something I want to say."

About half an hour would pass, and the entirety of Cyrus's forces gathered within the control room. Axios looked about the crowd and tried to count how many Cyrus had recruited. "I keep losing count at a hundred and six." He softly said.

"After scanning, there are 126 thermal signatures within the room." Sigma said from Axios's wrist gauntlet. "That's including us."

"Amazing at what he has done." Isaac said. "If he had more resources he could have done so much more."

As the last of Cyrus forces entered the room, everyone surrounded the circular platform within the center. Cyrus looked out at his people and stood tall. "Boys… Girls…" He said. "I've got something for you all to hear."

"To start this off, the man to my side is Axios Faxton. A man who saved my life and Kaitlyn's life nine years ago. He gave me and her a chance to start over with our lives. One that I feel we capitalized on when we joined hands and formed this group. He's someone who I trust with my life, and I wouldn't doubt him for a second."

Cyrus slowly walked in a circle around the edge of the platform to look about all of his people. "He comes to us today with an offer." He said. "And it's too big of a decision for me to make alone. So I'm going to ask each and every one of you. He comes to offer us a life within the Cornerian military. To join the ranks of the newly founded Black Mist Coalition, the Cornerian's first black ops branch of their military."

Axios quickly noticed many people whispering amongst each other, and judging from their faces Axios could see the doubt. "I know what you're all saying to each other right now." Cyrus continued. "I'm not military, like many of you. I don't want to subject myself to a higher authority. I don't want my life to make another drastic change. But, there are benefits. Benefits that even I can't provide to you with the limited resources that I have."

"Those who join will be provided with a steady flow of monetary income. You will be provided with hot meals daily. A place to rest your tired heads. You will receive advanced training; become better versions of yourself. But most importantly, you will be able to contribute to the betterment of the new world. A new war is coming, and while the military and political leaders are rebuilding, they'll be needing people like us to help maintain the peace."

"You all came to me, placing your trust into me. We all want nothing more than to make the world a better place. For our children, and our grandchildren. This is our opportunity to do just that, but I will not make this decision on my own. I will support and honor the choice that each of you make, but if we are to do this, it must be unanimous."

"So I ask you, will we join? Or remain here?"

After concluding his speech, the many faces within the room conversed with each other. The initial signs from the body language within the room did not look promising to Axios, and he let loose a deep sigh. However, a hand rose from the crowd. "I want to make a difference." The man said out loud. "If you trust that man, then I will too. I will join!"

Following the first hand, many more slowly rose into the air and Cyrus smiled. The many people continued to call out their allegiance to Axios and Cyrus, and within moments all hands within the room were held high. Seeing as everyone wanted to join, Cyrus turned to Axios. "I trusted you in the past." He said. "You didn't let me down. Now, I'm not the only one placing trust into you. Can you do for them what you did for me?"

"I can, and I will." Axios assertively responded. "I know their responses, but now I need to know yours."

Cyrus looked back at Kaitlyn for a moment. Kaitlyn smiled and nodded her head, and Cyrus turned back to Axios. "I'm in." He said.

Axios smiled and heled out his hand. "Welcome to the Black Mist Coalition, Ren."

Cyrus shook his hand and smiled. "I look forward to working with you, Commander."

As they sealed their pact, it marked the beginning of a new chapter. Axios would relay the word to Toran, and all members of Cyrus's group would find themselves within the ships of the 1st Excelsior fleet. Cyrus and Toran would exchange their greetings, and as time passed Axios was given command of his own small fleet.

Within the first year, the Black Mist Coalition would expand in numbers. Their existence, known only to the Cornerian military leadership, and the Lithonian general Harbinger. But their loyalty, to their commander, Axios, and his three new captains, Isaac, Joey, and Cyrus.

Their war was kept to the shadows, away from the public eye. Though no one would know their accomplishments, the people of the Black Mist Coalition were satisfied knowing that each mission they carried out resulted in leaving the world a better place.

And to them, that was all they needed.


End file.
